Written by: Heather Helmendach, Legal Assistant
Law Offices of Thomas J. Lamb, P.A.
Though the FDA previously warned of an increased risk of heart failure among users of specific type 2 diabetes drugs, new research from their Mini-Sentinel program suggests that this may not be the case.
The diabetes drugs in question are the DPP-4 inhibitors: saxagliptin (Onglyza) and sitagliptin (Januvia).
According to the earlier 2013 study, these two drugs were linked to slightly higher rates of heart failure hospitalization when compared with a placebo.
However, according to the MedPage Today article, "Gliptin Users Don't Seem to Have Higher CV Risk," the Mini-Sentinel program found that:
the nearly 400,000 patients on either drug did not have an increased risk when compared with patients on pioglitazone (Actos), second-generation sulfonylureas, or long-standing insulin products after 7 to 9 months of follow-up....
This MedPage Today article also describes noteworthy information provided by Naveed Sattar, PhD, MD, of the University of Glasgow, though he was not involved in the aforementioned studies:
observational data can never tell "the full truth" because it's impossible to measure all of the differences between patients in a way that completely captures reality.
"It can only hint or suggest something that may need to be looked at in more detail..."
He added that the findings likely won't significantly change how DPP-4 inhibitors are prescribed. "DPP-4 inhibitors will be continued to be used, given general safety in most diabetes patients, but some physicians will be wary of their use in patients with heart failure; some will be wary only of saxagliptin, and others will be fine to use any," Sattar wrote.
We will continue to monitor the medical literature concerning saxagliptin and sitagliptin and their relationship to increased risk of heart failure.
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