Avandia Cited As Dangerous for Diabetics, Older Women — Linked to Heart Attacks
Posted By Vicki McClure Davidson on February 20, 2010
FDA has linked diabetic drug Avandia to heart attacks, heart failure, and bone fractures
Alarming medical news this morning… The diabetic medication Avandia is under fire for being linked to an increase in heart attacks and heart failure. It has also been linked to increasing bone fractures. The FDA wants Avandia removed from the market.
From Market Watch, FDA report says Avandia should be taken off market: report:
GlaxoSmithKline’s (GSK, GSK.LN) diabetes medicine Avandia weakens the heart sufficiently to increase users’ chances of heart attacks and heart failure, according to a U.S. Food and Drug Administration report obtained by the New York Times, the paper reported on its Web site Friday night for its Saturday edition.
Citing the FDA report, the Times said 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.”
“[The drug] should be removed from the market,” the FDA report said, according to the Times.
From USPost Today, Avandia, Heart Attacks & An Internal FDA Battle:
Avandia is needlessly causing hundreds of cases of heart attacks and heart failure each month, according to confidential government reports, The New York Times writes. Moreover, if every diabetic taking Avandia were given Actos instead, about 500 heart attacks and 300 cases of heart failure would be avoided each month. The pill was linked to 304 deaths during the third quarter of 2009, and a report by the FDA’s David Graham and Kate Gelperin concludes the pill should be yanked…
Some FDA officials want Avandia withdrawn because they believe a safer alternative exists, the Times adds, noting others insist studies offer contradictory info and Avandia should remain an option. GlaxoSmithKline, which makes the pill, says it studied Avandia extensively and “scientific evidence simply does not establish that Avandia increases” risk of heart attacks.
From Health Today News, Business Week, Diabetes Drugs Avandia, Actos Tied to Fractures in Women:
Women who take diabetes drugs known as thiazolidinediones, which include Avandia and Actos, are at a greater risk of bone fractures, a new study finds.
Women who took a thiazolidinedione drug for a year were 50 percent more likely to suffer a bone fracture than patients who didn’t take the drug, the researchers found. Women older than 65 were most vulnerable, with a 70 percent higher risk.
“Older women are already at a higher risk of osteoporosis and osteoporosis-related fractures, which might explain why they appeared to be the most affected,” study senior author Dr. L. Keoki Williams, of the Center for Health Services Research at Henry Ford Hospital, said in a news release.
Thiazolidinedione drugs — which include pioglitazone (Actos) and rosiglitazone (Avandia) — help people with type 2 diabetes better control their blood sugar levels. The drugs work by lowering resistance to insulin and cutting the amount of glucose made by the liver.
But doctors have worried in recent years about reports linking the drugs to bone loss and higher risk of fractures.
The researchers studied 4,511 patients who filled at least one prescription for a thiazolidinedione between 2000 and 2007 at Henry Ford Hospital. Men were not found to be at higher risk of fracture in this study group, the study authors noted in the news release, although other recent research has suggested such a link.
From Gather, Avandia: Deemed Dangerous for Diabetics!:
Avandia is a diabetic medication product made by GlaxoSmithKline and it could be dangerous to people’s heart according to a claim made by U.S. government confidential reports. Continued and constant use of the Avandia for diabetes may be the cause of hundreds of heart attacks each month. Due to the recent findings on the dangers of Avandia, efforts are being made to pull the prescription drug from the shelves and markets effective immediately. It is estimated that almost 500 heart attacks as well as 300 incidents of cardiac arrest or even heart failure which are occurring each month could be stopped if Avandia medication is stopped immediately. Physicians recommend that diabetics begin using Actos to control their diabetic condition instead of Avandia. However, GlaxoSmithKline is standing by the drug Avandia and challenge researchers that Avandia is not dangerous and safe.
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Good read, thanks.