Personal Injury Law

Dangerous Drug?: Avandia a Heart Attack Risk and GlaxoSmithKline Knew, Says Senate Report

According to a senate report released today, pharmaceutical drug manufacturer GlaxoSmithKline knew that that Avandia was causing about 500 heart attacks a month yet failed to pull the drug off the market despite the US Food and Drug Administration?s recommendation that the company do so 2008. 304 fatalities were linked to this medication during 2009?s third quarter. The diabetes drug is still available for use to this day, and hundreds of thousands of people continue to take it.

The report claims that the drug manufacturer has known for years about the heart attack risk created by taking Avandia and asked doctors not to warn about this possible side effect. The diabetes drug, which has been available since 1999, made $3 billion in 2006. Sales went down to $1.2 billion last year after the New England Journal of Medicine published a study reporting that people who take Avandia may increase their heart attack risk by 43%.

In 2008, FDA officials found that not only did Avandia increase a user?s heart attack risk, but it wasn?t any more effective than rival drug Actos. In 2007, the Journal of the American Medical Association published a study that concluded that use of Avandia increased heart failure risk by 60%, heart attack risk by 40%, and one?s fatality risk by 29%.

Avandia is usually prescribed to people suffering from Type 2 diabetes. The New York Times says that if all Avandia users were given Actos instead, about 300 heart failure cases and 500 heart attacks would be avoided each month. Meantime, Glaxo denies that Avandia is a heart risk.

Dangerous Drugs
Our Chicago, Illinois products liability lawyers represent clients who were injured, became sick, or died from a dangerous pharmaceutical drug. Drug manufacturers are supposed to make products that are safe for people to take. You may have grounds for filing a dangerous drug lawsuit if a pharmaceutical company makes a dangerous drug, fails to warn of certain side effects, or tries to conceal the risks associated with the medication.

Glaxo Knew Avandia Caused Heart Risk, Report Says (Update1), BusinessWeek, February 20, 2010

Research Ties Diabetes Drug to Heart Woes, New York Times, February 19, 2010

Related Web Resources:
Avandia Press Kit, GSK

Type 2 Diabetes, American Diabetes Association

US Food and Drug Administration

Full post as published by Chicago Injury Attorney Blog on February 21, 2010 (boomark / email).