Drugs such as exenatide (Byetta) and sitagliptin (Januvia), cause no 
apparent increase in pancreatic side effects, according to a joint 
statement from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the European 
Medicines Agency.

The drugs were the subject of a JAMA Internal Medicine study in 2013 
that linked their use to a doubled risk for hospitalization for acute 
pancreatitis.

In the New England Journal of Medicine, the agencies say that they 
have separately “explored multiple streams of data” and that 
assertions of a link between the drugs and pancreatic side effects 
“are inconsistent with the current data.” However, they also write 
that “the FDA and the EMA have not reached a final conclusion at this 
time regarding such a causal relationship.”