Diabetes Drug Avandia : Drug Maker’s Study Under Investigation
The New York Times reported this week that GlaxoSmithKline, the maker of Avandia, a prescription drug intended for the treatment of Type 2 diabetes, undertook a secret study in 1999 to determine if Avandia was safer than a competing diabetes drug, Actos, made by Takeda. The study, which GlaxoSmithKline attempted to keep unknown, showed not only that Avandia was no more effective than Actos, but that it poses serious risks for heart attacks and strokes in patients.
GlaxoSmithKline insists that the study was reliable and that it demonstrated that the drug is safe. Critics assert that the study conducted by GlaxoSmithKline was flawed, manipulated and that its findings cannot be trusted.
The nation’s leading medical advisory group, The Institute of Medicine, released a report last week “concluding that Avandia increased the risks of stroke, heart failure and death compared with Actos.”
Beginning today, the FDA will determine in two days of hearings on whether Avandia should be withdrawn from the market.
Read an earlier entry outlining a New York Times report that exposed how Avandia is linked with risks of heart failure.
Patients taking Avandia that suffered serious side effects are welcome to contact a Lieff Cabraser attorney to learn about their legal rights for no charge or obligation.
Related posts:
- Diabetes Drug Avandia and Strokes and Heart Attacks: Further Evidence of Link
- Avandia Diabetes Drug And Patient Heart Attacks Linked, New York Times Reports
- FDA seeks to reduce drug dosage errors
- Beleagured Food and Drug Administration Reveals It Succumbed to a Push by “Paid-For Lawmakers”
- Experts: Key drug facts often left off FDA labels
