I have a personal interest here, since a very close relative of mine (who has Type II diabetes) was prescribed this drug, Avandia, a fewyears ago. Her doctor told her it was an excellent new medication.
She responded that she didn’t trust new medications as much as she trusted older ones, whose side effects were better known. It turns out she may have saved herself from a heart attack as a result.
This New York Times article lays out the unfortunate details.
Hundreds of people taking Avandia, a controversial diabetes medicine, needlessly suffer heart attacks and heart failure each month, according to confidential government reports that recommend the drug be removed from the market.
The reports, obtained by The New York Times, say that if every diabetic now taking Avandia were instead given a similar pill named Actos, about 500 heart attacks and 300 cases of heart failure would be averted every month because Avandia can hurt the heart. Avandia, intended to treat Type 2 diabetes, is known as rosiglitazone and was linked to 304 deaths during the third quarter of 2009.
“Rosiglitazone should be removed from the market,” one report, by Dr. David Graham and Dr. Kate Gelperin of the Food and Drug Administration, concludes. Both authors recommended that Avandia be withdrawn.
It also turns out that the research results on which Avandia’s approval depended were skewed based on the funding source . No major surprise here, but studies funded by the drug companies were more positive than independent studies.
