Kenneth Stephens of Kentucky has filed a Januvia lawsuit against several drug companies over the death of his wife, Connie Stephens. His Januvia lawsuit alleges that various drugs, such as Januvia, made by these companies caused his wife to develop a fatal illness.

Mrs. Stephens reportedly took both Byetta and Januiva, both of which belong to the same family of diabetes drugs. She took Byetta from 2007 to 2009 and Januvia from 2011 to 2013.

In August of 2012, Stephens’s physicians diagnosed her with pancreatic cancer. Pancreatic cancer tends to be a very deadly form of cancer. Since the pancreas has almost no pain receptors, patients often don’t feel any symptoms until the cancer has spread. Since pancreatic cancer tends to go undiagnosed until it is very advanced, this gives the disease a very poor prognosis.

Mr. Stephens’s Januvia lawsuit contends that the drugs Byetta and Januvia caused the pancreatic cancer. Several studies have indicated that these drugs, which belong to a family of diabetes drugs called incretin mimics, can increase a patient’s risk of developing pancreatitis and pancreatic cancer.

Mr. Stephens’s Janvuia lawsuit has joined at least hundreds of similar Januvia, Byetta, and Victoza lawsuits in a type of group legal action called a multidistrict litigation or MDL.

In MDLs, a group of similar individual lawsuits are coordinated together. This is designed to help streamline the legal process, similar in some ways to a class action lawsuit. However, MDLs are much more common in drug and medical device lawsuits, since individuals involved in drug litigation tend to be scattered across the country with little connection to each other. This makes them unlikely to find each other and coordinate a Januvia class action lawsuit. Instead, individuals are more likely to file individual Janvuia or Byetta lawsuits which are similar enough to be included in a single MDL.

Januvia pancreatic cancer lawsuits typically allege that drug makers were aware — or reasonably should have been aware, based on peer-reviewed papers, postmarket surveys, and statements from regulatory agencies — that these drugs could cause pancreatic cancer.

Januvia lawsuits further allege that not only were drug makers aware of these risk, but that they actively downplayed the risk, endangering lives of people like Mrs. Stephens.

Januvia lawsuits like Mr. Stephens’s seek compensation for wrongful death, medical costs, lost wages, legal fees, and other costs related to the diagnosis and treatment of pancreatic cancer.

The Januvia Pancreatic Cancer Lawsuit is Kennth Stephens, et al. v. Amlyin Pharmaceuticals LLC, Case No. 13-md-2452 AJB(MDD), within the MDL In Re: Incretin-Based Therapies Product Liability Litigation, MDL No. 2452, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California.