A collection of cancer lawsuits over type-2 diabetes drugs Januvia, Byetta, Janumet, and Victoza have been consolidated into multidistrict litigation (MDL), which is moving to the next phase: discovery trials. The discovery trials are meant to determine the link between these diabetic drugs and pancreatic cancer.

More than 400 product liability lawsuits are in the MDL In re: Incretin Mimetics Products Liability Litigation that is being presided over by U.S. District Judge Anthony Battaglia in California. The Januvia lawsuits were filed by various diabetic consumers who allege that their use of Byetta, Januvia, Janumet, and Victoza caused them to develop pancreatic cancer. The Januvia lawsuits also allege that the manufacturers of these various diabetes drugs failed to provide adequate warning to their consumers of the possible side effects associated with taking incretin mimetics.

From Sept. 2 through Oct. 14, depositions will be taken. Plaintiffs must file and serve their disclosure of experts and experts’ reports by Nov. 17, while defendants have until Dec. 17 to provide the same. Plaintiff rebuttal reports must be submitted to the court by Jan. 30, 2015, and a deposition of experts will also need to be completed on March 6, 2015.

According to news reports, it is expected that Judge Battaglia will also approve a set of bellwether trials — a sampling of individual lawsuits over similar complaints grouped into individual court cases — regarding the four distinct diabetes drugs allegations.

Diabetes Drug and Increased Cancer Risk

The MDL, a grouping of individual lawsuits over similar issues, deals strictly with incretin mimetic drugs, a fairly new group of injectable drug treatments for type-2 diabetes patients. These drugs essentially copy the naturally-occurring incretin hormone that all individuals need to lower blood sugar levels after a meal. When released, incretin stimulates the release of insulin from the pancreas, inhibits the release of glucagon from the pancreas, thus also inhibiting the liver from releasing stored sugar into the bloodstream, and decreasing the absorption of glucose into the bloodstream.

Many type-2 diabetes patients have not been able to control their medical condition with pills alone, and therefore need an injection of an incretin mimetic drug in order to compensate for the low level of the incretin hormone in their systems.

While incretin mimetic drugs can be helpful to diabetes sufferers, these drugs do not come without risks. Drugs such as Januvia, Victoza, Janumet and Byetta have been associated with an increased risk of pancreatitis, pancreatic cancer and thyroid cancer.