AstraZeneca, Bristol-Myers Get Win in Diabetes Drug Litigation

AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals LP, Bristol-Myers Squibb Co., and McKesson Corp. won multidistrict litigation over diabetes drugs, as a federal court in Kentucky said patients’ failure to produce expert evidence linking the medication to heart failure doomed their claims.

The drugs are Onglyza and Kombiglyze, both of which contain saxagliptin as an active ingredient. The plaintiffs allege saxagliptin caused heart failure.

In January, Judge Karen K. Caldwell of the US District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky excluded the plaintiffs’ sole causation expert, cardiologist Parag Goyal.

His reliance on a single clinical study to show that the drugs could ...