Avandia (generic rosiglitazone) was approved by the FDA in 1999 to treat type 2 diabetes. On May 23, 2007, an article was published in the New England Journal of Medicine stating that Avandia significantly increases the risk of heart attack in diabetes patients. Though the drug has not been recalled to date, the FDA did issue a public safety alert advising those taking the drug to consult their doctors regarding the serious cardiovascular risks associated with taking the drug.
These potential life-threatening effects of Avandia are not new, however. In 2000, Dr. John B. Buse, Chief of Endocrinology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, warned the FDA that Avandia showed “a worrisome trend in cardiovascular death and severe adverse events” among patients taking the drug.
Both the FDA and the maker of Avandia (GlaxoSmithKline) have known about the risks associated with the drug for seven years but have not adequately warned prescribing doctors and consumers about the deadly effects of the drug.
In 2006, worldwide sales of Avandia exceeded $3 billion, making it one of GlaxoSmithKlines best-selling drugs ever. Clearly, the maker of Avandia will lose quite a bit of money each year if and when Avandia is recalled.
