Though the type II diabetes drug, Avandia, was connected with an increased risk of heart attack or heart failure three years ago the medication continues to be prescribed across the U.S. Now a physician who led a study on the drug is asking that an international trial of the drug be called off.
The FDA approved trial would compare the effectiveness and danger of Avandia against Actos. However, many researchers and physicians want the study halted before it begins. They fear that the study would be both "unethical" and "dangerous".
The concern is that the prescription medication Avandia increases the risk of ischemic heart attack or heart failure. In fact, both drugs in the study have been linked to both serious heart issues and higher rates of edema, macular edema, bony fractures, anemia and acute liver injury. The proposed study would include 16,000 people from 14 countries. Many are concerned that the defenders of the drugs have financial ties to the drug companies that produce the medications.
This concern has spread to the Senate Finance Committee. They have begun the process of deciding if the pharmaceutical company's vast reach has tainted the safety claims of the study.
According to leading opponents of the study, Dr. David Juurlink and Dr. Sidney Wolfe, the risks of the study are not worth the purported benefits. The researchers believe that the "price of definitive proof" of the drug's safety hazards "will almost certainly be measured in the lives of the study subjects who have been incompletely informed about the risks and benefits of participation" in the trial.
If you take Avandia and believe that it has negatively affected your health please contact your Wisconsin, Illinois, and Iowa pharmaceutical class action attorneys at Hupy and Abraham today for your free consultation.