Today's press is all over a study published in the August 2007 journal, Diabetes Care. The study collected data on more than 78,000 type2 diabetic patients taking either Avandia (rosigilazone) or Actos (pioglitazone) - drugs used by more than 3 million people in this country. The researchers found that these drugs doubled the risk of heart failure. The average time for heart failure to develop was 24 weeks after starting either one of these drugs. The heart failures occured at even the lowest dosage and among young patients.
Apparently the press has forgotten about similar results published in the same journal in 2005 based on study findings on 25,690 patients. That study clearly suggested that the use of any pharmacological therapy for type2 diabetes dramatically increased the risk of heart failure during the first year after diagnosis.
The FDA has been in negotiation with Big Pharma over "black-box" warnings about heart failure risk on the labels of diabetic drugs for a long time.
To our knowledge, black box warnings for these drugs have yet to be mandated.
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4 comments:
This sounds like VIOXX revisited.
When does public health trump the new rules that define the FDA dogma of modern "scientific" medicine and pharmacology marketing.
Once again, the failed system of medicine operating in the United States is exposed.
What exactely is a black box warning?
A black box warning on the label means that studies indicate the drug carries a significant risk of serious or even life-threatening effects.
Why would any doctor continue to prescribe these dangerous meds if lifestyle changes could get most of these type2 diabetic patients off prescription drugs?
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