A Virginia man yesterday filed the first personal injury lawsuit stemming from injuries associated with the use of the diabetes medication Byetta. Victor Deleon alleges that the manufacturer and marketers of the drug, Amylin Pharmaceuticals and Eli Lilly, failed to adequately test and monitor the side effects of Byetta and didn't warn doctors or patients of the risk of developing pancreatitis. Deleon was hospitalized in December of 2007 after developing the sometimes-deadly condition.

The lawsuit comes only two days after the FDA announced that it has received six reports of hemorrhagic or necrotizing pancreatitis in patients taking Byetta since October of 2007. Two of the six patients died.

Deleon's lawsuit claims that Amylin "failed to adequately warn prescribing physicians of the risk of pancreatitis, of measures needed to properly assess the appropriateness of prescribing the drug to certain categories of patients, and of measures doctors and patients could and should take to minimize the risk."