Diabetes drug linked to heart attacks, death
A new analysis Monday reported the widely prescribed diabetes drug
Avandia is linked to a greater risk of heart attack and possibly death.
More than 6 million people worldwide have taken the drug sold by
London-based GlaxoSmithKline PLC since it came on the market eight
years ago. Pooled results of dozens of studies revealed a 45 percent
higher risk of heart attack, according to the analysis published online by
the New England Journal of Medicine.
In a conference call Monday, Glaxo’s chief of diabetes drug development,
Dr. Lawson McCartney, said the analysis is not definitive scientific proof.
The company is not seeing “anything like” the risks reported in the
medical journal, he said.
“We remain very confident in the safety and of course in the efficacy of
Avandia as an important diabetic medicine,” McCartney said.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration had no immediate comment on
Monday’s New England Journal report on Avandia.
The report on the risks of the diabetes drug follow Glaxo’s .5 million
settlement of a lawsuit filed by former New York Attorney General Eliot
Spitzer over the release of data on the safety and effectiveness of its
drugs. Spitzer, now New York governor, accused Glaxo of fraudulently
withholding some results of studies that had examined the safety of
prescribing the antidepressant Paxil to children.
GlaxoSmithKline disputed that it attempted to mislead anyone, and said it
has always been in favor of widespread disclosure of clinical trial results.
Avandia is used to treat Type 2 diabetes, the most common form of the
disease, which is linked to obesity. This form of diabetes occurs when the
body does not make enough insulin or cannot effectively use what it
manages to produce.
Avandia helps sensitize the body to insulin and was considered a
breakthrough medication for blood-sugar control.
© 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not
be published, broadcast, rewritten o
I just heard about this....I hope anyone who is on this will follow up with their doctors!
Phats
It was the headline news story on NBC Nightly News tonight - the best part was the question about how can this keep happening? Duh ... profit, greed ...