Numerous recent diabetes drug adverse event reports were examined and the results suggest that users of certain classes of diabetic medications may carry numerous potential diabetic drug side effects, including ketoacidosis, pancreatic cancer, kidney problems, and heart problems.

A special report published online by AdverseEvents.com looked closely at three major diabetic drug classes, which include GLP-1 (like Bydureon, Byetta, Tanzeum, and Victoza), DPP-4 (Nesina, Tradjenta, Onglyza, Kombiglyze XR, Januvia, Janumet, and Janumet XR) and SGLT2 (Farxiga, Invokana, and Jardiance).

Based on the results of this report, long suspected diabetic medication side effects and complications were confirmed, which have been passionately debated within the medical community for the past few years.

The researchers for this diabetes drug study collected data from the FDA’s Adverse Event Reporting System (AERS), and found that many of potential side effects from taking certain classes of diabetic medication could not have been properly detected until a post-marketing surveillance was performed. This diabetic medication study also identified new areas of potential concern for users of incretin mimetic drugs like Onglyza. Of the cases observed there were 19 instances of Onglyza heart failure.

The incretin mimetic drug class was also found to have a strong link to the development of acute pancreatitis and pancreatic cancer. The medical community has been concerned with a possible link between incretin mimetic drugs like Onglyza and an increased risk of pancreatic cancer.

Over the past few years, these concerns have led to the filing of thousands of pancreatic cancer lawsuits, and some Onglyza lawsuits. Perhaps the publication of this new AERS data study will lead to an increased filing of Onglyza pancreatic cancer lawsuits, although the drug’s manufacturer is already facing legal claims for other Onglyza complications.

Onglyza Side Effects

Onglyza (also known by its generic drug name saxagliptin) is an incretin mimetic drug approved as a type-2 diabetes treatment. While some patients have found success in managing their blood sugar levels when taking Onglyza, other have experienced some serious health complications and side effects.

Another Onglyza pancreatic cancer study was published in the March 2013 edition of the Diabetes journal, which also found a strong link suggesting an increased risk of Onglyza pancreatic cancer. The researchers performed autopsies on 20 people who had suffered from diabetes, eight of whom specifically treated the condition with an incretin mimetic drug like Onglyza.

According to the results, those who took incretin mimetic drugs tended to have a pancreas that was 40 percent larger than normal and exhibited pre-cancerous cell growth.

Another serious Onglyza side effect is an alleged increase in heart failure risk. A study published in the 2013 edition of the New England Journal of Medicine found that Onglyza patients were more likely to be hospitalized for heart failure when compared to other type-2 diabetes patients using other classes of diabetic drugs.

While neither of these studies prove causality between Onglyza use and these side effects, doctors and patients are now on the alert for possible Onglyza heart failure and pancreas cancer symptoms.