The diabetes drug Jardiance has been linked with a number of serious complications, including an increased risk of Jardiance ketoacidosis.

Jardiance Background

Jardiance (also known by its generic name, empagliflozin) is a diabetes drug jointly manufactured by Eli Lilly and Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals. The diabetes medication, along with other diabetes drugs belonging to its class, has recently been accused of increasing a patient’s risk of developing Jardiance ketoacidosis.

Jardiance, Invokana, and Farxiga are all members of a new class of diabetes medications approved to treat type-2 diabetes. These drugs are known as sodium-glucose cotransporter-2 (SGLT2) inhibitors. SGLT2 inhibitors include the following diabetes drugs:

• Jardiance (empagliflozin)
• Invokana (canagliflozin)
• Farxiga (dapagliflozin)
• Invokamet (canagliflozin metformin)
• Glyxambi (empagliflozin linagliptin)
• Xigduo XR (dapagliflozin metformin)

Unfortunately, despite the popularity of SGLT2 inhibitor drugs like Jardiance, these medications have been linked with ketoacidosis complications. In response to reports of Jardiance ketoacidosis and ketoacidosis associated with other SGLT2 inhibitor drugs, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued a warning for drugs in the SGLT2 inhibitor class.

Jardiance ketoacidosis can be a serious complication. Essentially, ketoacidosis is the buildup of high levels of ketones, or blood acids, in the blood. This can lead to a number of symptoms, including the following:

• Nausea
• Vomiting
• Difficulty breathing
• Abdominal pain
• Confusion
• Fatigue or sleepiness

In the drug’s first fifteen months on the market, the FDA reports having received over twenty adverse events reports linking SGLT2 inhibitors like Jardiance with ketoacidosis problems. These patients required emergency room treatment and/or hospitalization due to diabetic ketoacidosis, ketosis, acidosis, or other similar conditions.

Diabetic ketoacidosis is generally associated with type-1 diabetes. Type-1 diabetes is a condition that someone is born with and persists for life, and complications such as ketoacidosis are not uncommon as a result of this disease. Type-2 diabetes is different, and is an acquired and often treatable condition. Type-2 diabetes is not usually associated with ketoacidosis and related conditions, but a growing number of type-2 diabetes patients have filed adverse events reports connected to their usage of SGLT2 inhibitors such as Jardiance.

Filing a Jardiance Ketoacidosis Lawsuit

Some patients who have suffered from ketoacidosis symptoms after being treated with Jardiance have responded by filing a Jardiance ketoacidosis lawsuit against Eli Lilly and Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals. According to these patients, the manufacturers failed to adequately warn the public and the medical community about the potential risks linked with their drug, including Jardiance ketoacidosis.

If you or someone you know has used Jardiance or another SGLT2 inhibitor drug and has since suffered from Jardiance ketoacidosis or a similar side effect, you may have cause to file a Jardiance lawsuit.