U.S.: Controversial diabetes drug harms heart

[Contrary1]

Internal F.D.A. reports are part of fierce debate over Avandia

"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 Both authors recommended that Avandia be withdrawn.

The internal F.D.A. reports are part of a fierce debate within the agency over what to do about Avandia, manufactured by GlaxoSmithKline. Some agency officials want the drug withdrawn because they believe there is a safer alternative; others insist that studies of the drug provide contradictory information and that Avandia should continue to be an option for doctors and patients. GlaxoSmithKline said that it had studied Avandia extensively and that “scientific evidence simply does not establish that Avandia increases” the risk of heart attacks..."

More: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35491876/ns/health-the_new_york_times/

[Rhiannon12866]

1. K&R. I believe that my good friend is taking this...

If it wasn't so late, I'd give him a call right now. He sees his doctor next week. Thanks for posting... Bookmarking. :scared:

[REP]

2. Actos is not available as a generic and can harm the liver

It acts on the liver, limiting glucose production and 'dumping,' and patients taking Actos need regular liver testing (about every three months for a few years; then yearly).

[Rhiannon12866]

3. Kicking for more exposure...

:kick:

[gleaner]

4. I took Avandia for several years .....

Then the first news began to dribble out several years ago that it could have adverse affects on the heart. The FDA wanted it off the market and it was pulled for about five minutes. Then Bush said there was nothing wrong with the drug, the adverse effects were greatly exaggerated and it was to go back on the market. It began being sold again, but my doctor was not so sure. She had been prescribing Celebrex and Vioxx for Arthritis pain when the studies came out showing how unsafe they were, so she didn't feel she could trust what she was being told about Avandia.

She took me off of it and changed my other diabetic meds and insulin to compensate. They keep releasing stuff like this they won't have to wait for lack of health insurance to kill us. The medicine will kill us outright, and oh well that will be one less to worry about.

It really lowered my fasting blood sugar though. It lowered it to 60 or 65 most days. That is way too low. It gets down to 50 and you are supposed to call the EMTs for a glucose drip. The more we look, it seems, the more awful things there are to see.