On Dec. 3, 2013, plaintiff Jan Benore filed a Januvia lawsuit claiming that the diabetic drug caused her husband’s pancreatic cancer which ultimately lead to his death.

She’s one of many survivors who are taking action against the drug maker Merck Sharp & Dhome. So many Januvia lawsuits have been filed, in fact, multidistrict litigation has been formed to consolidate them under a single jduge.

Although Mrs. Benore hasn’t joined the Januvia MDL, that may be an option in the future to help her enjoy a faster resolution for the claim that her husband, James Benore, was an unsuspecting victim.

Type-2 diabetes is the fastest growing chronic disease in the United States, which can lead to amputations, blindness and a number of other illnesses. It is often treated with medicatiosn like Januvia, but Mrs. Benore says that there were unknown and unnecessary Januvia risks that the couple was never told about. She alleges that this lack of warning was intentional.

The Michigan couple weren’t concerned when Mr. Benore was prescribed Januvia since although diabetes can be a dangerous disease if not managed, it is also a relatively common disease.

Mr. Benore began taking Januvia in 2007 until October 2010. In either April or May 2010, he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Mr. Benore died on Oct. 15, 2010 from complications caused by the pancreatic cancer.

Mrs. Benore did not learn until just recently that Januvia was connected to an increased risk of pancreatic cancer.

Januvia pancreatic cancer claims are on the rise, and it’s also alleged that the drug can cause a number of other pancreatic issues besides cancer.

With so many options on the market, Mrs. Benore says that she and her husband would have chosen a different drug had they known of the Januvia risks.

There have been murmurings of the Januvia/pancreatic cancer connection for a few years.

“In February 2010, concerns were published regarding the GLP-1 drugs, including, Byetta, and the DDP-4 inhibitors, including Januvia, and its potential linkage with pancreatic cancer,” the lawsuit claims.

Well before this study and similar ones, the drug maker was required to put the drug under intense scrutiny and testing via the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which is required before the FDA will approve making it available to the public.

Researchers have “used the FDA Adverse Event Reporting System (AERS) with the primary goal of their analysis being to assess the association between treatment with Januvia and an adverse event report of pancreatitis, where the drugs were listed as the primary suspect associated with a pancreatitis report in the database,” the Januvia lawsuit says.

“A secondary goal was to examine the FDA AERS database for reported pancreatic or thyroid cancer associated with use of Januvia with various other anti-diabetic drugs used as controls. Metformin was not used as a control drug because it has been reported to decrease the risk of pancreatic cancer.”

What these researchers found was that the risk of pancreatic issues with the drug were exceptionally higher, “>10-fold more frequently reported as an adverse event for patients administered GLP-1 class of drugs (including Byetta) and >6-fold more frequently reported in patients prescribed Januvia (and other DDP-4 inhibitors, such as sitagliptin).”

Mrs. Benore says that the company either knew or should have known of the full pancreatic implications, but chose not to add adequate warnings.

A Widow’s Claim

Mrs. Benore claims that the company acted irresponsibly and failed on many counts to protect patients like her late husband.

“[Merck] did not perform adequate safety testing on [Januvia] as required by good pharmaceutical science practice,” Mrs. Benore alleges. “[Merck] failed to provide proper and full information as to the safety of the Drug. [Merck] failed to ensure that full and correct safety labeling and warnings were used in pharmacy sheets that accompanied the Drug to the purchaser.”

She goes on to note that her husband’s last months were unnecessarily painful.

Mrs. Benore’s charges against Merck include negligence, design defect, failure to warn, breach of warranties, negligent misrepresentation, fraudulent concealment, loss of consortium, wrongful death, and punitive damages.

The Januvia lawsuit is Jan Benore et al v. Merck Sharpe & Dhome, Case No.: 3:13-cv-02826-AJB-MDD, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California.