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Isolated case reports have described acute pancreatitis in users of the relatively new diabetes drugs sitagliptin (Januvia) and exenatide (Byetta). Pancreatitis is now at the top of the “Warnings and Precautions” section of the prescribing information for both drugs.
To explore this potential complication, U.S. researchers linked medical and pharmacy claims databases that included 750,000 nondiabetic patients and 38,600 type 2 diabetic patients; in the latter group, 17% received exenatide, 41% received sitagliptin, and 42% received neither drug. In analyses adjusted for other medications and conditions associated with pancreatitis (e.g., gallstones and triglyceridemia), diabetic patients overall were twice as likely as nondiabetic patients t…