A patient claims that the diabetes medication Onglyza causes heart failure symptoms.

Plaintiff Alice W. claims that she has type-2 diabetes and took Onglyza or Kombiglyze XR to help lower her blood sugar levels, as intended. Both drugs are known by the generic name saxagliptin and are manufactured by Britstol-Myers Squibb Company and Astrazeneca Pharmaceuticals LP. Alice claims that as a result of her use of the medications, she suffered multiple adverse cardiac reactions including heart failure, congestive heart failure, and acute hypoxic respiratory failure.

Alice claims at as a result of her injury, she suffered “significant bodily and mental injuries, pain and suffering, mental anguish, disfigurement, embarrassment, inconvenience, loss of earnings and eating capacity, and will have to incur past and future medical expenses.“

She claims that the makers of the drugs knew that the drugs could increase a patient’s risk of experiencing heart failure symptoms, but did not warn patients of this risk, and she aims to hold Bristol-Myers Squibb Company and Astrazeneca liable for her injuries. Allegedly, the companies’ concealment of this knowledge was knowing and purposeful, and was done to increase their profits from the sale of the drug.

Alice claims that had she known that saxagliptin could cause adverse cardiac events, she would not have taken the drug, and had her physicians known that the drug could cause adverse cardiac events, they would not have prescribed it to her.

The Onglyza heart failure symptoms lawsuit states that people with type-2 diabetes have a higher risk of cardiovascular disease than people without type-2 diabetes, and that cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in people with type-2 diabetes. The Onglyza lawsuit goes on to state that because of this, “it is critical that drugs developed to allegedly help prevent type 2 diabetes do not increase the risk of cardiovascular events in the users.”

In fact, the FDA reportedly published a recommendation saying that new drugs used to treat type-2 diabetes should be determined to not increase a patient’s risk of cardiac problems.

According to Alice, Bristol-Myers Squibb Company and Astrazeneca knew or should have known that the drugs would increase the risk of cardiovascular problems in type-2 diabetes who were already prone to them, and sold the drug nonetheless.

Onglyza and Kombiglyze XR lower blood sugar by inhibiting the enzyme that stops insulin production, allowing insulin to be produced for longer than it would naturally be produced. Insulin in the hormone that makes cells absorb sugar from the blood, thereby lowering blood sugar.

Allegedly, the makers of the drug did not sufficiently investigate how stopping the production of the enzyme and allowing insulin production to continue for much longer than is natural would affect a body systemically. The Onglyza heart failure symptoms lawsuit claims that the companies did not conduct adequate studies to examine the impact of inhibiting the enzyme before releasing the drug into the market.

The Onglyza Heart Failure Symptoms Lawsuit is Case No. 5:18-cv-00394-KKC, in the U.S. District Court for Dallas County, Texas.