This new class of diabetes drugs may just be too dangerous to take

Four years ago the largest investment bank in the world fired off an urgent alert to all of its investors.

Goldman Sachs warned that a new class of diabetes meds called SGLT2 inhibitors – drugs that were supposed to be the next billion-dollar blockbusters for companies like Bristol-Myers Squibb and Eli Lilly – would probably never see the light of day.

Clinical trials had linked SGLT2 inhibitors like Farxiga to horrible side effects such as breast and bladder cancers and kidney and liver damage. Plus the drugs didn’t work very well.

Stockbrokers and their clients knew all about the terrible risks of SGLT2 inhibitors – but diabetics didn’t.

Since that time, Big Pharma has steamrolled the FDA and gotten six new SGLT2 inhibitors onto the market – one may even be sitting in your medicine cabinet or purse right now. And they’re just as lethal now as they were four years ago.

In fact, the FDA is now admitting that the same drugs it approved may be triggering a serious blood disorder that can lead to a coma – or even death.

New and (NOT) improved

The FDA has sent a warning to doctors and patients that SGLT2 inhibitors like Farxiga, Invokana and Jardiance can cause a life-threatening condition called ketoacidosis.

Ketoacidosis occurs when your body can’t use glucose properly and starts to burn fat for energy instead. If that goes on for too long, the acid levels in your blood skyrocket and you could end up in a diabetic coma or even dead.

It’s the kind of disorder you usually see among patients whose diabetes is poorly controlled – not among people who are forking over their paychecks for some hot new drug like SGLT2 inhibitors.

But at the Endocrine Society’s big annual meeting a couple months ago, researchers from the University of Colorado shared the story of a 50-year-old woman who developed a serious and life-threatening case of ketoacidosis after just six doses of Invokana.

And while the dangers of SGLT2 inhibitors may come as news to diabetics and even their doctors, Wall Street and even some of the FDA’s top advisors have known about them for years.

In 2011, an FDA advisory panel raised so many concerns about Farxiga – which was developed by drug giants Bristol-Myers Squibb and AstraZeneca – that Goldman Sachs analyst Jami Rubin said the chances of any SGLT2 inhibitor ever being approved were “likely dead.”

There were concerns about “not only the drug’s safety but also efficacy,” Rubin wrote. And the trials produced disturbing side effects like an unexplained 500 percent increase in breast and bladder cancers.

“There were questions about serious complications that [the drug companies] tried to finesse,” said Erik Gordon, a professor from the University of Michigan.

Drug experts also warned that SGLT2 inhibitors can threaten your kidneys. They all work essentially the same way, by forcing your kidneys to excrete glucose in your urine.

Even if you have moderately reduced kidney function – which is common among diabetics – the drugs may cause serious and permanent damage.

But despite dire warnings from medical researchers around the country and even members of its own advisory panel, the FDA opened the floodgates by approving Invokana in 2013.

There are now six of these dangerous SGLT2 inhibitors being prescribed to unsuspecting diabetics. Aside from Invokana and Farxiga (yes, the same Farxiga that the FDA panel recommended against), the list includes:

• Jardiance (linked to urinary tract infections and heart problems);
• Glyxambi (a combination of Jardiance and a hormone-mimicking med called Tradjenta that’s been linked to pancreatic cancer);
• Xigduo XR (a combo of Farxiga and metformin that’s been linked to dangerously low blood pressure and bladder cancer); and
• Invokamet (a combination of Invokana and metformin that may cause potentially fatal lactic acidosis).

While each of these drugs comes with its own list of troubling side effects, it’s important to remember that they can all trigger ketoacidosis. Catching ketoacidosis early is critical, and you need to be on the lookout for telltale symptoms like fatigue; nausea; vomiting; abdominal pain; shortness of breath; excessive thirst; and confusion.

If you’ve been prescribed a SGLT2 inhibitor – and especially if you’re experiencing any of these symptoms – it’s urgent that you speak with your doctor as soon as possible. Hopefully you’re being given a warning and a chance that many diabetics were denied for years.

Sources:

“FDA warns on newer class of type 2 diabetes drugs” Bill Berkrot, May 15, 2015, Reuters, reuters.com