Concern Over Avandia Continues

Washington, DC(Public Citizen.org) wants Avandia off the market, and many doctors are continuing to switch their Type 2 Diabetes patients to an alternate form of medication. But Avandia is still out there, and still a concern with regard to heart attack. There has never been an Avandia recall, even though Avandia and heart attacks continue to be a concern.

A massive study is currently underway to further scrutinize Avandia, and attempt to answer once and for all if the benefits of Avandia do, indeed outweigh the risks. However, the results of the study won't be known for years.

In the meantime the evidence continues to mount. According to the recent study conducted by Wolfgang C. Winkelmayer, Assistant Professor of Medicine at the Harvard Medical School (HMS) and researchers at HMS, elderly people with diabetes who took Avandia (rosiglitazone) were more likely to develop congestive heart failure and die, than people who took Actos (pioglitazone).

A database of Medicare patients was used to track 28,361 patients over a time span of 5 years. Half of the group were given pioglitazone, while the other half were given rosiglitazone (Avandia.) At the end of the day it was determined that death rates were 15 percent higher in Avandia patients, than those who were prescribed Actos.

"Rosiglitazone was associated with greater mortality," Winkelmayer said.

Both the European Association for the Study of Diabetes, and the American Diabetes Association have long since removed Avandia from their lists of recommended treatments for Type 2 diabetes. Doctors continue to switch their patients away from Avandia to an alternative considered more safe. And the consumer advocacy group Public Citizen continues to rail against GlaxoSmithKline and the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) with regard to a call to ban the drug outright, citing concern over liver failure, vision impairment and various other serious side effects beyond heart issues.

However, the drug continues to be available on the market, while the manufacturer continues to study its value.