News Tagged ‘risk of heart attack

Dark cloud hangs over Avandia despite FDA vote to keep it on market

fda logo 100x100After two days of deliberation, a Food and Drug Administration (FDA) advisory panel voted Wednesday to keep the diabetes drug Avandia on the market despite studies that suggest the medication puts people at greater risk of and strokes. The decision was hardly decisive. Among five possible recommendations, the option to withdraw from the market received the most votes, however a majority voted to keep it on the market in some form. Thus the drug will still be available.

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GSK to pay $460 million to settle Avandia lawsuits

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 (), has agreed to pay about $460 million to settle lawsuits alleging the company hid evidence that increased the risk of and strokes. faces more than 13,000 lawsuits and has agreed to settle about 10,000 of them. 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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