Avandia Increases Heart Attack Risk by 43%, Risk of Other Cardiovascular Diseases Even Higher According to 2007 Study
Avandia, which is still on the market in the United States but now severely restricted, may have exposed hundreds of thousands of people to cardiovascular disease, heart failure and ultimately caused heart attacks in tens of thousands of its users. This dangerous diabetes drug created a battle within the FDA over its safety and whether it should remain on the market and showed how conflicts of interest and even corruption exists with the FDA. Respected newspapers and magazines have written about Avandia in respect to the problems with the FDA as a regulatory agency and their ability to keep American consumers safe. Additionally, Avandia was seen as being so dangerous that it prompted Senate hearings and investigations. Studies and reports by the FDA's own drug safety personnel documented not only the increased risk of heart attack from using Avandia, but also that there were other available medications that did not carry those same heart attack risks.
Avandia Caused 83,000 Heart Attacks Between 1999 and 2007
The FDA has linked Avandia to 83,000 heart attacks occurring from between 1999 and 2007 and the number of heart failures and Avandia users that experienced other forms of cardiovascular disease is likely much higher.
Avandia - A Troubled History with the FDA
The FDA issued it's first Avandia alert about increased heart attacks risks on May 21, 2007. Unfortunately, for the tens of thousands of people the drug harmed, the FDA determined the data used in that study to be inconclusive. Evaluation committees of the drug have been found to include members paid by GlaxoSmithKline, the maker of Avandia. Not surprisingly, those committees always made positive recommendations for Avandia.
But Avandia's criticisms went much further, Time Magazine published an article that cited Avandia as the poster child for how the FDA regulatory system is broken - something that the magazine said "may prove criminal as well as fatal."
But Avandia's criticisms went much further, Time Magazine published an article that cited Avandia as the poster child for how the FDA regulatory system is broken - something that the magazine said "may prove criminal as well as fatal."
Avandia and the US Senate Finance Committee
It's rather unusual for the United States Senate to examine the dangers of prescription medicine, but Avandia presented such grave dangers to the public that is exactly what happened. U.S. Senators Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) and Max Baucus (D-Montana) have been investigating GlaxoSmithKline’s handling of Avandia for some time. In 2007, the pair, along with the Senate Finance Committee, sent information to the FDA claiming that GlaxoSmithKline had indeed withheld key information that indicated the drug was unsafe for general use. The report also blamed the FDA for failing to provide adequate monitoring of the long-term impacts of the drug.
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