This is Michael Brady Lynch, lead trial attorney for the Michael Brady Lynch Firm.
Imagine nicking your foot. The small cut quickly becomes an infection. This infection spreads. Then, before you know it, you must amputate the entire foot. This is the reality for many Type 2 diabetics who take the dangerous drug, Invokana.
Invokana & Lower Limb Amputation
Manufactured by Johnson & Johnson, Invokana is the brand name of the drug canagliflozin, which is a sodium glucose cotransporter-2 (SGLT2) inhibitor. This class of drugs lowers blood sugar by causing the kidneys to remove sugar from the body via urine. Also, the European Medicines Agency and the FDA are warning that canagliflozins increase the risk of skin infections and ulcerations. The skin will become so badly infected that toes, legs, and other lower extremities must be amputated.
The warning comes after the Canagliflozin Cardiovascular Assessment Study (CANVAS). CANVAS found that 7 out of 1,000 patients taking Invokana will need lower-limb amputation. This seems like a small number; however, it truly is massive. Consider that Invokana is the best-selling inhibitor drug on the market for Type 2 diabetes. This means that hundreds of thousands of people who take Invokana are completely unaware that a seemingly innocent cut on a toe, may lead to amputation. This is all because of their Invokana use.
Patients are urged to seek immediate medical attention if they experience symptoms such as pain or tenderness, sores or ulcers or infections on their legs or feet. Also, if patients stop taking Invokana without the guidance of a doctor it could lead to uncontrolled blood sugar levels, blindness, nerve and kidney damage and heart disease.