Deadly Onglyza Side Effects Set in Fast and Lawsuits Lumber On

February 25, 2018, 5:00PM. By Anne Wallace

Woman suffered heart failure after taking Onglyza and Kombiglyze XR for 10 months in 2015. Three years later, she waits for justice.

Pittsburgh, PAViola Chapman began taking Onglyza and Kombiglyze XR (Saxagliptin) to treat her type 2 diabetes in February 2015. By December, as her Onglyza lawsuit claims, those drugs had caused heart failure, congestive heart failure and cardiovascular injury.

That went south fast.

What's not fast is the pace of Onglyza lawsuits. Chapman's lawsuit hints that defendants, Bristol-Meyers Squibb, AstraZeneca and McKesson Corporation, dragged their feet in complying with discovery demands. This may have been an effort to run out the Statute of Limitations or to thwart a more obvious need for speed faced by Onglyza heart attack plaintiffs.

Time is never on the side of plaintiffs, but this part of the problem may be close to solution as Onglyza and Kombiglyae XR lawsuits may now be consolidated in the Eastern District of Kentucky.

Mounting evidence of deadly Onglyza Kombiglyze side effects

In 2013, the New England Journal of Medicine the New England Journal of Medicine reported that the Saxagliptin Assessment of Vascular Outcomes Recorded (SAVOR) study had found a 27 percent increased risk of heart failure in patients treated with the drug. The study further reported that 3.5 percent of patients suffered their first incidence of heart failure after taking Saxagliptin and that roughly 26 percent of them died.

In April 2015 an FDA Advisory Committee recommended that Onglyza and Kombiglyze XR add warnings for heart failure. The warning was not, however, added until 2016.

That adds up to a period of four years during which Onglyza and Komgiglyze XR patients appear to have been misinformed or under informed about the risks of the medication that they took, and that means a lot when the side effects appear to develop very quickly. That is the gist of the Onglyza Kombiglyze lawsuits, including Viola Chapman's, that are pending throughout the country. Ms. Chapman's lawsuit is brought by her personal representative, so she's probably not doing well.

Does consolidating Onglyza lawsuits into multidistrict litigation help?

The short answer is probably, but not immediately. As of early February, the consolidation order will affect more than 84 lawsuits in more than 30 jurisdictions. Plaintiffs will have the opportunity to share in the discovery of evidence and to streamline the cumbersome process of generating court filings. On the other hand, there are some paperwork burdens involved in becoming involved in a consolidated case. Unless settled, the lawsuits may have to proceed individually. Some good news is better than none.