Beasley, Allen, Crow, Methvin, Portis & Miles, P.C.

While an expert panel in the U.S. reviews evidence to decide whether to pull the popular diabetes drug Avandia off the market due to an increased risk of cardiovascular events, BusinessWeek reports that the drug’s maker, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), has agreed to pay about $460 million to settle lawsuits alleging the company hid evidence that Avandia increased the risk of heart attacks and strokes. GSK faces more than 13,000 lawsuits and has agreed to settle about 10,000 of them. Avandia was to face its first trial in federal court in October. BusinessWeek reports that the FDA review helped prompt the company’s decision to settle the suits.

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It’s a long time coming. This week the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced it is reviewing the primary data from a large, long-term clinical study, known as RECORD, on possible cardiovascular risks associated with the diabetes drug Avandia (rosiglitazone). The agency said it is also reviewing on an ongoing basis a number of other published observational studies on the cardiovascular safety of the drug. The FDA’s announcement comes on the heels of news that two U.S. senators are asking why the GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) drug is still on the market when an FDA oversight board in 2008 urged the agency to pull the drug because it was causing 500 additional heart attacks a month. That request by the oversight board was based on the findings from the RECORD study.

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Two U.S. senators are asking the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) why the diabetes drug Avandia is still on the market after an agency oversight board in 2008 urged the agency to remove the GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) drug from the market because it was causing 500 additional heart attacks a month. Senators Max Baucus and Charles Crassley said the major drug company even knew about the dangers of Avandia but initiated a cover up to keep the drug available to consumers.

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A UK newspaper reported yesterday that drug giant GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) – the second largest pharmaceutical company in the world – will cut 150 or more scientists and support staff positions.

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GlaxoSmithKline’s Avandia is once again making the headlines after it was revealed that the peer reviewer looking at the now-notorious meta-analysis on the diabetes drug’s safety profile leaked a confidential copy of the article to the firm before it was published in the New England Journal of Medicine

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Older patients who took Avandia had a higher risk of heart attacks, congestive heart failure and death than those on other diabetes pills, according to a study of nearly 160,000 Canadians.

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Montgomery, AL: Joyce A. says she did not know that Avandia could cause so many health problems, at least she did not know until her doctor took her off Avandia and put her on another drug. Unfortunately, this happened after she was hospitalized two times with severe chest pains. Although she has started to recover since being taken off Avandia, she says she still experiences some pain.

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The consequences of deadly Avandia side-effects are now being seen in the general population, a new study has found. Previously, evidence that Avandia placed patients at an increased risk of heart attacks had only been seen in clinical trials. But now, Canadian researchers have found that patients taking the controversial diabetes drug who are not enrolled in clinical trials are showing increased evidence of heart attacks and other cardiac problems.

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Older patients who took Avandia had a higher risk of heart attacks, congestive heart failure and death than those on other diabetes pills, according to a study of nearly 160,000 Canadians out Wednesday.

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Two U.S. pharmacy benefit managers said on Thursday they had dropped GlaxoSmithKline Plc’s (GSK.L: Quote, Profile, Research) diabetes drug Avandia from their national formularies due to safety concerns.

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