Tomorrow, our own Sid Wolfe will be testifying before an FDA advisory committee about the much talked about diabetes drug Avandia, manufactured by drug maker GlaxoSmithKline. The New York Times reported today that GlaxoSmithKline hid data indicating Avandia’s adverse effects for 11 years. The New York Times also explained the history of this dangerous drug.
In the fall of 1999, the drug giant SmithKline Beecham secretly began a study to find out if its diabetes medicine, Avandia, was safer for the heart than a competing pill, Actos, made by Takeda.
Avandia’s success was crucial to SmithKline, whose labs were otherwise all but barren of new products. But the study’s results, completed that same year, were disastrous. Not only was Avandia no better than Actos, but the study also provided clear signs that it was riskier to the heart.
But instead of publishing the results, the company spent the next 11 years trying to cover them up, according to documents recently obtained by The New York Times. The company did not post the results on its Web site or submit them to federal drug regulators, as is required in most cases by law.
Excuse our impatience, but we’ve been warning about Avandia for a decade. We petitioned the Food and Drug Administration to ban Avandia (also known as Rosiglitazone) back in 2000. Sid Wolfe has been saying all the things “recently uncovered” for years. It finally looks like something might happen though; the FDA is meeting to discuss Avandia today.
Check out Public Citizen’s history advocating for the removal of Avandia from store shelves.
You should also look at worstpills.org, our comprehensive fact-check website for all sorts of medications.
