| A widely used diabetes pill raises the risk of heart | | | | GlaxoSmithKline in February 2007 noted that |
| attacks and possibly death, according to a | | | | there is a greater incidence of fractures of the |
| scientific analysis that reveals what some experts | | | | upper arms, hands and feet in female diabetics |
| are calling another Vioxx-like example of the | | | | given rosiglitazone compared with those given |
| government failing to protect the public from an | | | | metformin or glyburide. |
| unsafe drug. More than 6 million people worldwide | | | | The diabetes drug Avandia can significantly |
| have taken the drug, sold as Avandia and | | | | increase a patient's risk of heart attack according |
| Avandamet, since it came on the market eight | | | | to an analysis in today's Journal of the American |
| years ago to help control blood sugar in people | | | | Medical Association. Avandia, a widely used but |
| with the most common form of diabetes. About | | | | controversial drug used to treat diabetes, |
| 1 million Americans use Avandia on the daily basis. | | | | increased users' risk of heart attacks by 42 |
| Avandia or Rosiglitazone is an anti-diabetic drug in | | | | percent and doubled their risk of heart failure, |
| the thiazolidinedione class of drugs. It is marketed | | | | researchers at Wake Forest University Baptist |
| by the pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline | | | | Medical Center have found. The study will appears |
| as a stand-alone drug Avandia and in combination | | | | in the Journal of the American Medical Association. |
| with metformin (Avandamet) or with glimepiride | | | | For the study, researchers looked at four clinical |
| (Avandaryl). Annual sales peaked at approx U.S. | | | | trials that enrolled more than 14,000 patients for |
| $4 Billion in 2008. A press release by | | | | at least a year. |