Stephen Ferraro of Fort Worth, Texas, has filed suit against the manufacturer of the diabetes drug Januiva. His lawsuit alleges that he suffered life-threatening side effects from the drug, and joins existing litigation against Januvia’s manufacturer, Merck Sharp & Dohme Corporation.

Ferraro took Januiva between November 2009 and January 2011. Januvia is a drug designed to help people control type-2 diabetes. However, in March 2012, Ferraro was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, which he alleges was caused by the type-2 diabetes medication.

Pancreatic cancer is a particularly deadly form of cancer. While any cancer is dangerous, pancreatic cancer tends to go undiagnosed until it has progressed. This is because the pancreas lacks pain receptors, so the patient rarely feels any discomfort until the cancer has progressed considerably. This means that pancreatic cancer has a particularly grim outcome, with most patients dying within two years of their diagnosis.

Ferraro’s lawsuit has joined hundreds of other Januvia cancer lawsuits that have been consolidated into multidistrict litigation (MDL). Lawsuits in the Januvia MDL allege that the drug can cause pancreatic cancer. Similar lawsuits have included claims against the diabetes drugs Janumet, Victoza and Byetta.

The Texas man alleges that not only were the manufacturers aware of the risks, but that they actively concealed these risks from consumers like Ferraro and medical professionals. Lawsuits in the Januvia MDL are seeking recoupment of costs like medical costs, final expenses, and lost income potential.

One of the pieces of evidence cited in many of the Januvia cancer lawsuits is a study published in 2011 in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), in which researchers found that patients taking Januvia and related drugs had a 2.7 times higher chance of developing pancreatic cancer than the control group.

The JAMA study also found an increased risk of developing pancreatitis, an inflammation of the pancreas. Pancreatitis is considered a major risk factor for pancreatic cancer.

The Januvia lawsuit is Stephen P. Ferraro, v. Merck Sharp & Dohme Corporation, Case No. 3:14-cv-00255-AJB-MDD, within the MDL In Re: Incretin-Based Therapies Products Liability Litigation, MDL No. 2452, filed in the United States District Court for the Southern District of California.