Onglyza (saxagliptin) is a prescription medication that helps diabetics maintain normal blood sugar levels. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the drug’s use in 2009.

Unfortunately, the drug has increasingly been linked to an increased risk of pancreatic cancer.

How Does Onglyza Treat Diabetes?

Onglyza belongs to a new class of diabetes medications known as DPP-­4 inhibitors and works by stimulating the pancreas to make more insulin after eating a meal.

Along with diet and exercise, many Type 2 diabetes patients use Onglyza to help regulate blood sugar.

Onglyza has been front and center among doctors and patients partly because it can regulate blood sugar without encouraging weight gain, unlike most other diabetes medications.

Additionally, Onglyza has been front and center with the FDA too, as the drug and other saxagliptins continue to come under more and more scrutiny.

To understand why, it helps to have a basic understanding of the role the pancreas plays in diabetes blood sugar control, and how Onglyza affects the pancreas.

Onglyza and the Pancreas

There are two vital hormones the pancreas produces to help regulate and balance glucose (blood sugar): insulin and glucagon.

Insulin is an after-meal blood sugar regulator. After a non-diabetic person eats a meal, the pancreas produces insulin, which helps regulate the amount of sugar going into the bloodstream.

Glucagon is the between-meal blood sugar regulator. Between meals, the pancreas produces glucagon to help steady blood sugar.

Onglyza works in tandem with insulin and glucagon to regulate blood sugar by:

• Lowering blood sugar by producing more insulin after meals
• Reducing the amount of sugar released into the bloodstream overnight and between meals

In Type 2 diabetes patients, the body either can’t properly use its own insulin or doesn’t produce enough. This leads to an inadequate amount of glucagon released, further upsetting the balance.

The main component in this process is the DPP-4 enzyme. DPP-4 tells the body when to stop insulin production.

Onglyza is a DPP-4 inhibitor, meaning it prevents DPP-4 from turning off the insulin switch, so the body continues to produce insulin. More insulin produced in the pancreas equals less blood sugar coursing through the bloodstream.

However, the mechanism by which Onglyza manipulates the pancreas to control blood sugar may be why there are so many reports of serious pancreatic issues and other Onglyza side effects.

FDA Warns of Onlgyza Side Effects

In 2013, the FDA issued a Drug Safety Communication to evaluate a study that uncovered a possible increased risk of pancreatitis and pre-cancerous findings in the pancreas of patients taking Onglyza and similar drugs.

The study published in the medical journal Diabetics showed that DPP-4 inhibitors like Onglyza might actually increase a patient’s risk for developing pancreatic cancer.

The study reviewed FDA reports through 2014 and found a higher risk of pancreatic cancer in people who took DPP-4 inhibitors than the normal population that didn’t.

Onglyza Lawsuits

Pancreatic cancer is often not diagnosed until later stages, and is difficult to treat. There are numerous lawsuits filed from patients who developed pancreatitis or pancreatic cancer while taking saxagliptin medications, including Onglyza.

Patients who have filed an Onglyza lawsuit have alleged that the drug makers, AstraZeneca and Bristol-Myers Squibb, failed to warn patients and doctors about potential dangerous side effects.

If you or someone you love has suffered illness, injury or death as a result of purported Onglyza side effects, an experienced dangerous drug attorney can provide you with a free, no-obligation evaluation of your case.