Type-2 diabetes is a condition that millions of Americans nationwide are facing. Many of them are prescribed medications to help them to control their blood sugar levels. While these drugs can fall into many different classes, the two most widely prescribed are SGLT-2 inhibitors and DPP-4 inhibitors. However, along with treating diabetes, the drugs come with increased risks for other conditions, as Fierce Pharma reports.
One of the SGLT-2 inhibitors, manufactured by Johnson & Johnson, Invokana, hit a hurdle when the FDA announced it was adding a warning to the medication’s label. The warning concerns the increased risk of bone fractures and bone density decreased among those who took the medication. The warning label also includes the drug Invokamet, which is a combination of Invokana and Metformin.
The FDA is requiring the warning label after J&J did a two-year study of 714 elderly patients and found that those taking the drug lost more bone density than those taking a placebo.
Invokana was approved in 2013 and Invokamet just a few months later. In the first half of this year, the drug hit $596 million in new sales.
Last month, the FDA hit the manufacturers of DPP-4 inhibitors with a warning label stating that this class of drugs can cause “severe and debilitating” joint pain. According to the FDA, symptoms may appear immediately after beginning the drug or may take years to appear. All patients reported that after ceasing the medication, the joint pain subsided.
The FDA issued the joint pain warning to the entire DPP-4 class of medications.
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