Report Finds Avandia-Heart Attack Link & Cover-Ups
Thousands of heart attacks have been linked to Avandia, a diabetes drug made by GlaxoSmithKline. Now, a Senate committee has issued a report concluding that the drugmaker knew of the risks but hid them from the public.
On Feb. 20 the Senate Finance Committee issued a 334-page report titled “Staff Report on GlaxoSmithKline and the Diabetes Drug Avandia.”
Since Avandia came onto the market, it has been associated with 83,000 heart attacks. In a statement, the committee's chairman, U.S. Senator Max Baucus (D-Montana) asserted:
“Americans have a right to know there are serious health risks associated with Avandia and GlaxoSmithKline had a responsibility to tell them. Patients trust drug companies with their health and their lives and GlaxoSmithKline abused that trust.”
For the report, investigators reviewed more than 250,000 pages of documents and interviewed GlaxoSmithKline, the FDA and whistleblowers who remain anonymous.
According to the report:
• Concerns about the Avandia-heart attack link were raised as far back as 1999. If the cardiovascular risks had been taken more seriously, many heart attacks could have been averted.
• GSK executives tried to intimidate doctors who were concerned about the potential dangers, misrepresented the findings of critical studies and downplayed the benefits of competing drugs.
• In 2008, two FDA safety officials warned that a study comparing Avandia and a competitor was unethical because of the heart attack risks yet the trial is still ongoing.
The bipartisan report also faulted the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, finding it was “too cozy with drug makers.” Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), the committee's ranking Republican, stated:
“There’s a real problem when FDA’s office that reviews drugs that are on the market is an unequal player in drug safety efforts. It doesn’t make any sense to have these experts, who study drugs after they have been on the market for several years, under the thumb of the officials who approved the drug in the first place and have a natural interest in defending that decision. The Avandia case may be the most alarming example of the problem with this set-up.”
If you or a loved on suffered a heart attack after taking Avandia, contact the attorneys of Carey & Danis. We can help. Carey & Danis is a national law firm that represents individuals injured by America’s largest corporations.
