Glaxo ‘withheld info on diabetes drug’s heart risks’

By Agence France-Presse
Tuesday, July 13, 2010 11:28 EST
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WASHINGTON — British pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline withheld from US drug safety regulators information about the possible dangers of top-selling diabetes drug Avandia, a report in the US press said Tuesday.

The allegation was made in the Wall Street Journal on the day that Food and Drug Administration (FDA) experts began a two-day meeting about the risks associated with Avandia and whether the drug for diabetes should be pulled from the market.

According to the Wall Street Journal, former FDA drug-safety official Rosemary Johann-Liang said in a deposition for lawsuits filed against Glaxo that the British drug company “hadn’t given the FDA full information on Avandia’s risks in a timely manner.”

The paper said Johann-Liang quit her FDA post “after she was unable to convince her superiors about the need for stronger warnings” about Avandia.

Her accusations were included in a letter sent to the FDA by members of a Senate committee investigating Glaxo and Avandia.

Several studies have linked Avandia to an increased risk of heart attack and stroke, but a Glaxo-funded study last year came up with the opposite result.

Last year sales of Avandia, which has been on the market since 1999, were about 800 million dollars worldwide, making it one of the top-selling diabetes treatments and overall drugs.

Agence France-Presse
Agence France-Presse
AFP journalists cover wars, conflicts, politics, science, health, the environment, technology, fashion, entertainment, the offbeat, sports and a whole lot more in text, photographs, video, graphics and online.
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  • Genessender

    The FDA is becoming another MMS: a servant to the corporations it's supposed to police.

  • NadePaulKuciGravMcKi

    Did you know that Big Pharma pays a large chunk of the FDA budget?
    The 'watchdogs' are on the payroll.

  • Savantster

    becoming?

  • Savantster

    Go figure.. a large corporation paid for a study that ended up showing their drugs were “safe”, but real scientists running experiments show it's dangerous.

    And, again, another British company. I guess they figured out they can sell poison (and lies) to the U.S. and we'll suck it up. Glad we have that pro-corporate government keeping an eye on things. Keep voting right-winger, it will only kill you a little bit!

  • dennycrane

    Just a way for pharma to kill us, so death care will not have to care for us. If they time it right they can draw lots of payments out before the poison gets us.

  • jsixis

    I refuse to take any drugs after Vioxx almost killed me.
    When I told my doctor Vioxx was messing with my blood pressure and heart rate he laughed.
    1 year later, people started dieing.

    I would rather take my chances then consume any drugs for problems a doctor may think he sees.
    (like my cholesterol at 220, exactly where it was 30 years ago)

    Prescription drug free at 51 and feeling better then I did at 41

  • cozmicseer

    FDA – Force Drugs on America. Seems like a more fitting name for them these days.

    If the DEA would get its head out of its ass, it would go after the bad drugs like the ones that the FDA pushes. Death by “approved drugs”: in the hundreds of thousands. Death from plant based drugs: 0

  • Byron

    These stories have become more and more common. Pharmaceutical giants withholding vital information that is also negative on a particular product solely to make a buck. Anti-depressant use leading to suicide come to mind.

    And the industry wonders why people don't trust their reassuring words about the safety of vaccines.

  • http://www.facebook.com/brandon.m.wherry Scott Burnell

    Brave New World

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Richard-Cleary/685251799 Richard Cleary

    I tried to join an Avandia class-action suit because I took Avandia for type 2 diabetes and now have dsytharsia, a speech impediment commonly caused by strokes. (Avandia has been blamed for strokes.)
    This condition is one factor that caused me to become 100% disabled and put an end to a 38 year career. I can't join the Avandia action because I have no paperwork proving that Avandia caused the stroke. My dsystharsia emerged over time and is not a condition whose origin point can be concisely proven. As an engineering professional, I was earning about $50,000. Now on disability insurance, I survive on about $15,000. I don't have the money to pursue this issue. Anyone who has been in my position knows that poverty is considered a crime in this country. Class action lawsuits rarely help those who they intend to protect. It's all about money.

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