Healthwise Today » Avandia

Avandia In The News Again!

bjmdjd — Fri, 24 Sep 2010 00:07:16 +0000

As most everyone who is taking the diabetes drug Avandia knows the medication has been under scrutiny in the U.S. and in Europe for some time. The FDA has decided to allow continued marketing of Avandia in the U.S. with restricted access while the European Medicines Agency has announced that all drugs containing Avandia will be off of the market in the next few months. They announced that the information that they now have no longer supports the view that the benefit of using the drug outweighs the cardiac risks involved.

The restricted access plus the fact that there is another drug available like Avandia without the same cardiac risks may signal the end of the popular diabetes drug. Restricted access means among other things that:

in order to prescribe the drug doctors must be part of a registry that certifies that they are familiar with the cardiac risks involved with the use of Avandia
they are prescribing it only because their patient has exhausted all other medications to try and control their blood sugar
patients also have to understand the cardiac risks involved in taking the drug

Patients currently on Avandia should be hearing from their doctor’s office soon to discuss their use of Avandia. If they don’t they should give them a call. bjmdjd

Material modifications since posting: none

Update On Avandia

bjmdjd — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 16:02:50 +0000

The FDA advisory panel which met to determine the safety of the diabetes drug Avandia has voted 20 – 12 to keep the drug on the market despite concerns over posiible cardiac risks. 10 members also recommended limiting who can prescribe the drug and who should be allowed to take it.

The FDA has promised to review the findings of the panel and make their decision as soon as possible. While they do not have to follow the recommendations of the advisory panels they usually do. bjmdjd

Material modifications since posting: none

If You Take Avandia Pay Close Attention

bjmdjd — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 14:35:03 +0000

The possible heart dangers of the diabetes drug Avandia are in the news again. An FDA advisory panel is in the midst of a two day hearing on the drug and it’s possible cardiac dangers.

More evidence has surfaced that suggests that the drug manufacturer (GlaxoSmithKline) knew about the possible heart risks as early as 2001 but withheld the information. The company claims that the information concerning them withholding cardiac risks was “cherry picked” from nearly 14 million pages of documents and is untrue.

If you take Avandia you need to pay close attention to these hearings. A decision will eventually be made that could range from stronger warnings on the drug label to possible removal from the market. bjmdjd

Material modifications since posting: July 16, 2010

Avandia Danger In The News Again

bjmdjd — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 01:48:32 +0000

On Saturday the New York Times published an article concerning the possible cardiovascular risk to patients taking Avandia for diabetes. This has been in the news for sometime now but until recently had died down. The concern is whether taking the drug raises the user’s risk of having a heart attack or developing heart failure.

Today the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) released a report saying that they were reviewing clinical study results and observational studies to determine if Avandia posed a big enough risk to be removed from the market. They stated that no conclusions or recommendations had been reached at this time but they planned to release their findings at a public meeting in July.

Meanwhile, the FDA suggests that all patients continue to take their Avandia unless they are told to stop by their doctor.

A bipartisan Senate investigation of the situation reported that GlaxoSmithKline, makers of Avandia, are responsible for the drug’s current problems because they failed to alert patients for years concerning the drug’s dangers. So the Avandia debacle continues as does the many woes of the Food and Drug Administration. I don’t mind admitting that BEFORE all of this hit the news many months ago, I was taking Avandia. bjmdjd

Material modifications since posting: 7/14/2010 and 7/16/2010