Diabetes Drugmakers Say Judgment Proper in Heart Failure Suits

Drugmakers AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals LP and Bristol-Myers Squibb Co., and distributor McKesson Corp. urged a federal appeals court to affirm the dismissal of suits alleging that diabetes drugs caused heart failure in patients.

The plaintiffs’ only expert who linked the drugs to heart failure was properly excluded as unreliable, entitling the defendants to summary judgment, they said in a brief to the US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.

At issue are the medications Onglyza and Kombiglyze XR, both of which contain saxagliptin as an active ingredient. Leatha Taylor and others alleged the drugmakers knew saxagliptin could cause heart ...