An article in the Jerusalem Post says the Israeli Health Ministry’s pharmaceutical division is cautioning doctors to be vigilant for cases of pancreatic infections and pancreatic cancer among people taking a class of diabetes drugs that includes Byetta and Januvia.
The story says the announcement followed similar warnings by both the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and its European counterpart about the drugs.
A number of studies have linked both Byetta and ...
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A report on FiercePharma says an analysis by safety watchdog group Institute for Safe Medication Practices found the class of diabetes drugs that includes Merck’s Januvia and Bristol-Myers’s Byetta may increase the risk for pancreatitis and pancreatic cancer.
The analysis found that reports of pancreatitis (an inflammation of the pancreas) and pancreatic cancer were about 25 percent higher for the class of drugs known as GLP-1, compared to older treatments.
FiercePharma notes ...
continue reading...A story posted on the Website of KTRK-TV out of Houston deals with U.S. Food and Drug Administration investigation into a potential link between newer diabetes drugs including Byetta and Januvia, and a potentially dangerous condition called pancreatitis.
According to the story, FDA officials reported that samples of pancreas tissue taken from patients showed inflammation and cellular changes linked with pancreatitis, an inflammation of the pancreas. Alarmingly, pancreatitis has the potential ...
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The Wall Street Journal says the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is doing a reassessment of Avandia – a diabetes drug manufactured by GlaxoSmithKline that was once regarded as a blockbuster in the pharmaceutical market.
In 2007, a study linked Avandia to heart attacks. In 2010, the FDA imposed restrictions requiring the manufacturer to advise patients of the risk information. Health-care providers must also provide documentation verifying that the risk information ...
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A lawsuit has gone to jury trial in Los Angeles, alleging that the manufacturer of the diabetes drug Actos concealed its cancer risks, Bloomberg reports.
The plaintiff’s lawyer claims that internal studies by Takeda, Asia’s biggest drug manufacturer, uncovered Actos’s links to bladder cancer as early as 2004. But the company didn’t alert U.S. regulators until seven years later, in order to protect more than $1.6 billion in annual sales.
Other diabetes ...
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The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved Johnson & Johnson’s drug Invokana, which will be used to treat type 2 diabetes.
According to the New York Times, Invokana is the first of a new class of diabetes medication. It causes blood sugar to be excreted in the urine, as opposed to many other drugs on the market that work by affecting the supply or use of insulin.
Last year, the FDA ...
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