Reports have yet to be confirmed that a widely-used class of diabetes drugs could actually be doing more harm than good to your wellbeing. The Food and Drug Administration is investigating whether drugs such as Merck & Co’s Januvia causes inflammation of the pancreas and pre-cancerous changes to the pancreas.
In a notice on its website, the agency noted that this is the first time it has communicated potential pre-cancerous links to the medicines, otherwise known as incretin mimetics. These type 2 diabetes drugs include Danish manufacturer Novo Nordisk’s Victoza, and Onglyza from Bristol-Myers Squibb Co and AstraZeneca Plc. According to the FDA, until healthcare experts professionals have been consulted, you should continue to take your medicines as directed.
Academic wellness researchers first highlighted the risk, and the agency commented ‘These findings were based on examination of a small number of pancreatic tissue specimens taken from patients after they died from unspecified causes.’ Hence the FDA are yet to reach a conclusion about the safety risks of this class of drugs until the researchers explain how they collected and studied the specimens, and provide tissue samples so the agency can further assess any possible risks.
The way these medicines work is by mimicking a natural hormone, known as incretin. This prompts your pancreas to release insulin when your blood sugar is rising, and thus they are used in the treatment of type 2 diabetes. This is the most common form of the disease, which tends to develop in adulthood and has been closely linked to lifestyle factors, such as obesity.
The incretin-mimicking medicines have previously been associated with acute pancreatitis, including fatal and nonfatal cases, which the public has already been warned about. Currently, manufacturers of the drug are required to warn consumers about risk of the potentially dangerous inflammation, by inserting warning labels into the products. When Judson Clark, an analyst at Edward Jones, was asked about the significance of the potential safety issues, he responded that ‘it’s too early to tell, but we’ll keep an eye on it.’ He also commented that as the pancreatitis risk is already noted on the drug labels, it isn’t expected that there will be any immediate changes in prescribing habits for the drugs.
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