The diabetes drug Invokana and other drugs in the SGLT2 inhibitor class have been associated with a number of very serious and potentially fatal side effects, including diabetic ketoacidosis, heart attacks, stroke, and kidney damage. Recently, the family of a woman named Ide Mae Jones Jackson filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the maker of Invokana, claiming that she suffered all of these severe side effects and that they caused her death.
Cassandra Jackson and other members of Ide Mae Jackson’s family filed their Invokana wrongful death lawsuit against Janssen Research and Development in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Louisiana on January 7, 2016. Here, they claim that Janssen and parent company Johnson & Johnson knew or should have known of the serious side effects of Invokana but that they failed to provide adequate warning of these risks. As a result, neither Ms. Jackson nor her doctors were aware of the severity of Invokana side effects so her symptoms were not properly treated, and she died.
Ide Mae Jackson began to take Invokana in February 2015 to help regulate her blood sugar levels, which were unstable as a result of her type 2 diabetes. Only one year later, she had suffered diabetic ketoacidosis, a stroke, a heart attack, and severe damage to her kidney, and the combination of these Invokana side effects proved fatal. According to her family’s lawsuit, neither Ms. Jackson nor her doctors had been warned of these Invokana side effects by Janssen, and proper warning may have saved her life.
In their lawsuit, the Jackson family claims, "The development of the injuries at issue herein were preventable and resulted directly from Defendants’ failure and refusal to conduct proper safety studies, failure to properly assess and publicize alarming safety signals, suppression of information revealing serious and life-threatening risks, willful and wanton failure to provide adequate instructions, and willful misrepresentations concerning the nature and safety of Invokana. This conduct and the product defects complained of herein were substantial factors in bringing about and exacerbating Ida Jackson’s injuries and the damage to Ida Jackson’s family and children."
Since Invokana was introduced as the first SGLT2 inhibitor in March 2013, scientific studies and FDA adverse event reports have shown that this drug is associated with multiple potentially fatal side effects. The FDA has issued two Invokana diabetic ketoacidosis warnings, in May 2015 and again in December 2015. The FDA also warned of a risk of Invokana bone fractures in September 2015. Additionally, in light of the high rate of reports of diabetic ketoacidosis and severe kidney damage, the Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP) recently stated that much of the suffering of Invokana patients "could have been reasonably anticipated, given the mechanism of action and the pre-approval clinical trial data", and that the risks of this and other SGLT2 inhibitors may outweigh the benefits.
The above statement made by the ISMP is echoed by a growing number of Invokana lawsuit plaintiffs, who claim that the makers of this drug acted in negligence by failing to warn of dangerous side effects. If you or your loved one suffered diabetic ketoacidosis or another serious diabetes drug side effect, you may be entitled to compensation for your damages. Please contact our respected personal injury lawyers to learn more in a free legal consultation.
