The SGLT2 inhibitor diabetes drugs like Jardiance have become increasingly linked with a number of serious complications, including lower limb amputation.

According to a recent study, diabetes patients could face a heightened risk of lower limb amputation due to Jardiance side effects.

Basics of Jardiance

Jardiance (also known by its generic name, empagliflozin) is a popular type-2 diabetes medication manufactured by Eli Lilly and Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, and was first approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 2014.

Jardiance belongs to a class of drugs known as sodium-glucose cotransporter-2 (SGLT2) inhibitors. Other medications in this class include Invokana, Farxiga, and more.

Jardiance, like other SGLT2 inhibitors, is used to help control high blood sugar, which in turn helps to prevent a number of severe diabetes-related problems, including kidney damage, blindness, nerve problems, loss of limbs, heart attack, and stroke.

Jardiance Side Effects

Of course, any medication will come with certain side effects. These risks, however, must be acknowledged on the drug’s warning label, giving patients and their doctors the information they need to determine if the risks of the drug are worth it relative to its benefits.

Unfortunately, SGLT2 inhibitors like Jardiance have been associated with some serious side effects without warning, including an increased risk of lower limb amputation—one of the problems the drugs are supposed to help prevent. Lower limb amputation risk includes amputation to the toe, foot, knee, or leg.

A recent study, published in BMJ, found that type-2 diabetes patients being treated with Jardiance or Farxiga were twice as likely to necessitate lower limb amputations than those who were treated with non-SGLT2 inhibitor medications known as GLP1 drugs.

The FDA has previously warned about the risk of diabetic amputation associated with canagliflozin drugs like Invokana, but has not yet released a similar warning about Farxiga or Jardiance side effects.

Filing a Jardiance Lawsuit

A growing number of patients are reporting major Jardiance side effects, including lower limb amputation. Diabetes drug lawsuits allege that drug companies—which make billions of dollars from these medications—either knew or should have known about the risks associated with their diabetes drugs, and warned both patients and the medical community accordingly. Patients who are not warned about these complications may be placed at unnecessary risk, their safety a lower priority than company profit.

Companies that fail to conduct proper testing—or actively conceal risks that they discover during testing—must be held accountable for their actions or inactions that place patients at risk.

If you or someone you love has suffered from diabetes drug complications like lower limb amputation, you may be able to file a lawsuit. Filing a lawsuit cannot undo the pain and suffering caused by Jardiance side effects, but it can at least help to alleviate the pain and suffering incurred by medical expenses, lost wages and more.