The Food and Drug Administration today warned that two diabetes medicines--sitagliptin (Januvia) and sitagliptin/metformin (Janumet) have been associated with dangerous cases of swelling of the pancreas.

The FDA notified healthcare professionals and also changed the drugs’ labeling (package insert) to reflect the pancreas risk. The pancreas aids in digestion and also in regulating blood sugar levels. The agency said it had received reports of 88 cases of acute pancreatitis between October 2006 and February 2009, including many cases that were severe enough to require hospitalization and four people that were admitted to the intensive care unit. The FDA recommends that healthcare professionals monitor patients carefully for this problem in patients taking either Januvia or Janumet.

In our Best Buy Drug report on diabetes drugs, we recommend against Januvia and advise instead that people with diabetes first try generic metformin. Januvia has not been shown to be any more effective than generic metformin at keeping your blood sugar levels under control and it is also significantly more expensive. To read more about diabetes drugs, check out our free Best Buy Drugs report.

--Steve Mitchell, associate editor