FDA to Seek Independent Avandia Review
July 27, 2007
A U.S. drug review panel said patients should be warned that taking Avandia for diabetes increases their risk of heart attacks.
The Food and Drug Administration is planning to ask an independent panel of experts whether the drug should be removed from the market, The New York Times said Friday.
One review said patients with heart disease and those taking insulin shouldn’t take Avandia, the newspaper said.
A spokeswoman for drug maker GlaxoSmithKline said the company believes Avandia is safe.
Dr. Richard Hellman, president of the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists, told the Times that he thought it unlikely that the FDA would ban Avandia but said that he wouldn’t prescribe it.