DRUG APPROVALS BY DR ANTHONY MELVIN CRASTO
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june 6 2013,
The controversial diabetes drug Avandia will get a second look from federal regulators this week, nearly two years after its use was severely restricted because of a link to heart problems.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has convened a panel of experts to consider an independent review by Duke University researchers of Avandia’s original clinical trial. The expert panel will conclude its sessions on Thursday, and could decide to alter or even lift the tight restrictions now in place regarding the medication’s use.
The Duke scientists did uncover some previously unreported cases of heart complications and deaths, but concluded that these cases did not significantly raise the overall risk of heart disease and the conclusions of the original trial still hold.
The FDA’s reconsideration of Avandia’s safety has prompted stinging criticism from the drug’s detractors, who say the agency is trying to save face following a very public embarrassment over the drug.
“This is a drug that has essentially been off the market in almost the entire world for the last three years. It has been banned in most countries, and is available in the United States under such strict requirements that only 3,000 patients now take it,” said Dr. Steven Nissen, the Cleveland Clinic cardiologist who first led the charge against Avandia. “It’s really about the FDA wanting to clean up its image, not about whether the drug is actually safe or unsafe.”
The FDA has defended its decision to review the Duke re-analysis of the original trial, which was conducted by the drug’s maker, GlaxoSmithKline, under the name Rosiglitazone Evaluated for Cardiovascular Outcomes and Regulation of Glycemia in Diabetes (RECORD).
“Given the public interest in Avandia, the extensive history of the product and the continued uncertainty of risk, the FDA is holding the advisory committee meeting to have a transparent, public discussion of the results of the RECORD readjudication,” FDA spokesperson Morgan Liscinsky said.
Avandia quickly became a blockbuster diabetes drug following its release in 1999, with sales topping $3 billion in 2006.
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