On Friday, the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced that newer class of type 2 diabetes drugs that are widely sold by pharmaceutical companies like AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson and Eli Lilly in partnership with Ingelheim am Rhein, Rhineland-Palatinate, headquartered pharmaceutical company Boehringer Ingleheim could cause high levels of blood acids. According to the agency, those levels of blood acids could send an individual to visit hospital.

According to the federal agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, the drugs belong to a class of drugs known as SGLT2 inhibitors. It is a class of prescription drugs that FDA approved to be used with diet and exercise to lower blood sugar in people with type 2 diabetes. The drugs include AstraZeneca's Farxiga, Johnson & Johnson’s Invokana and Jardiance of Lilly and Boehringer.

On its website, FDA warned that the drugs could lead to conditions like ketoacidosis, a serious metabolic state associated with high concentrations of ketone bodies. The FDA stated, “The agency’s Adverse Event Reporting System database identified 20 cases of acidosis reported as diabetic ketoacidosis, ketoacidosis, or ketosis in patients treated with SGLT2 inhibitors between March 2013 and June 6, 2014”.

According to the agency, people affected due to the medicines could require emergency room visits. FDA said that since June last year, it has received a number of reports of diabetic ketoacidosis in people that were treated with SGLT2 inhibitors.

The FDA has also listed three combination type 2 diabetes treatments which include an SGLT2 drug. The drugs got popularity in parts because apart from controlling levels of blood sugar, the medicines helped in weight loss. Obesity is considered as a leading cause of type 2 diabetes.