Avandia Diabetes Medication Increases Risk of Heart Failure

Unsafe Drugs

Diabetes is a serious disease and a booming business for big pharma. Approved in 1999, the diabetes drug Avandia is manufactured by GlaxoSmithKline. More than 11.3 million prescriptions are written every year for an estimated retail cost to consumers for more than $1.6 billion in America and $3 billion worldwide.

 

For several years, the FDA has known that Avandia can cause heart failure but a New England Journal of Medicine study has linked Avandia to heart attacks.

In addition to the risk of heart attack and death, Avandia has not been shown to benefit the health of diabetes patients in a clinically meaningful way which is another reason why doctors should think twice before prescribing its use.

The media outlet Bloomberg reported that as early as 2001, GlaxoSmithKline, the manufacturer of Avandia, was warned by U.S. regulators, about downplaying risks of the cardiac problems associated with Avandia. Have you or a loved one suffered a heart attack after taking Avandia?

Bloomberg also reports that in 2000, more than seven years before the New England Journal of Medicine article, a diabetes expert from the University of North Carolina informed the FDA about GlaxoSmithKline's abuse of clinical trial data that related to Avandia's cardiovascular safety.

Why would the FDA still allow Avandia on the market and not request a total Avandia recall? The consumer advocate community is puzzled. The black box label was strengthened to add a stronger warning of heart attack but is that enough?

Within the past few years, Avandia is presumed to cause macular edema. While type 2 diabetes, is indeed serious; it need not be life threatening like heart attacks.

The question remains: How much did GlaxoSmithKline know about the risk of heart attacks prior to the black box warning and study pointing to heart disease?

Doctors are now being warned to avoid prescribing Avandia diabetes medication to patients who have heart problems or take nitrates. How many heart attacks and lives could've been saved, would've been saved if the FDA didn't grovel to big pharma?

For an Avandia personal injury law firm in Ohio, click here. For an "of counsel" Avandia personal injury law firm in Penn, WV, or NJ, click here.