Texas plaintiff Clara Gutierrez is suing Merck & Co. for the wrongful death of her husband, John Gutierrez. She alleges that because he ingested the defendant’s type-2 diabetes drug, Januvia, her husband developed and later died from pancreatic cancer.

Mr. Gutierrez was one of the millions of Americans suffering from type-2 diabetes, and to contend with potential attacks, adhere to a strict diet, undergo regular doctor visits and blood tests, and keep a busy schedule of medications. Januvia had been added to his treatment program on the advice of his doctor, who praised the drug’s ability to level and encourage insulin production.

However, there was a potential Januvia side effect that the the Gutierrezes were allegedly not aware of. Soon after being prescribed with the medication, Mr. Gutierrez had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer on Sept. 11, 2012, and had died a mere month later. He had been experiencing increasingly severe symptoms, which led his physician to the devastating diagnosis.

Mrs. Gutierrez is filing this Januvia lawsuit on behalf of herself and her husband, and will be joining the Januvia multridistrict litigation (MDL). She alleges that at no point during, before or after his Januvia prescription, were she or her husband aware that pancreatic cancer was a possibility.

There was reportedly no mention of it on the drug’s warning label, nor had his physician had any prior knowledge of the potential Januvia pancreatic cancer side effect. Mrs. Gutierrez states that Merck had the civil responsibility to warn her husband and all other Januvia patients of any potential Januvia side effects, because they are relying on the given information.

Mrs. Gutierrez insists that if her husband had known about pancreatic cancer being a possibility, then he never would have taken Januvia.

For being allegedly responsible for manufacturing, selling, distributing, and marketing a dangerous drug, Mrs. Gutierrez filed this Januvia lawsuit against Merck . The charges include negligence, false advertising, concealing information, and misrepresenting a product.

The Januvia Lawsuit is Clara Gutierrez, et al. v. Merck Sharp & Dohme Corp. in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California. It had been added to the Januvia MDL, In Re: Incretin-Based Therapy Products Liability Litigation, MDL No. 2452, in the U.S. District Court of Southern California.

Overview of Januvia Complications

Januvia was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in October 2006 to be a type-2 diabetes treatment drug that would stabilize insulin levels in patients.

Januvia is a part of a recently approved drug family called dipeptidyl peptidase-4 (DPP-4) inhibitors, which is a class of therapeutic drugs meant to treat type-2 diabetes. These drugs work by signaling incretins in the body to produce more insulin, thereby preventing diabetic attacks.

Despite Januvia’s overwhelming success, it has been recently associated with major health complications, with pancreatic cancer being one of the most prevalent.

Several major studies have been published pertaining to this concern, with one of the most recent being published on June 10, 2013 in the British Medical Journal. Each of these studies showed that patients on incretin mimetic drugs had a much higher chance of developing pancreatic cancer, compared to patients on other medications.

In general, Januvia pancreatic cancer lawsuits are filed individually by each plaintiff and are not class actions.

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