In a blow to an effort to develop a brand new type of diabetes pill, a panel of advisers to the Food and Drug Administration voted 6 to 9 that the FDA should not approve dapagliflozin, a new type of diabetes drug.
Invokana has been subject to intense scrutiny and speculation because last year a similar drug, Forxiga (generic name dapagliflozin), developed by Bristol-Myers Squibb in partnership with AstraZeneca, was rejected by the FDA. The reason for the rejection was concern over liver damage and cancer risk, specifically breast cancer and bladder cancer.