The Food and Drug Administration has issued restrictions on the use of the drug rosiglitazone – most commonly known as Avandia (TM), although also found in drugs marketed as Avandamet and Avandaryl.
All three drugs are manufactured by GlaxoSmithKline and all three are used by people suffering from Type II diabetes.
Europe Outlaws the Drug; the FDA Merely Restricts
Here in the United States, the FDA will allow patients already using Avandia the option of continuing with the drug. The FDA will also allow diabetes patients in the United States to begin using Avandia — if their physicians can confirm that the patient has already tried other options, and Avandia is their last resort at controlling their diabetes.
Meanwhile, in Europe, Avandia has been determined to be too dangerous. No patient is being allowed access to the drug.
People Have Died From Using Avandia
It’s not up for debate that some people have died from using Avandia. The drug has caused fatal heart attacks and strokes.
Three years ago, Dr. Steven Nissen published results of his research in the New England Journal of Medicine, where he had found that the drug raised the risk of heart attack by more than 40%. While the manufacturer has debated Nissen’s results, additional studies continue to cause concern.
Why Isn’t the FDA Doing What Europe Has Done With Avandia?
Enough concern that in Europe, the drug has been taken off the market. Here in the United States, we have to wonder why that’s not true here as well.
What does the FDA have to say? Is the FDA Influenced by the Drug Companies?
Read the reasons behind FDA Director Dr. Janet Woodcock’s decision here.
And, read what Public Citizen’s Director, Dr. Sidney Wolfe has issued in response here.
According to Dr. Wolfe, the failure to ban Avandia is a blatant example of the agency caving into pressure from the drug industry — at the risk of human life.
