Avandia, a blockbuster diabetes drug for GlaxoSmithKline, should be pulled from the market because it "may cost thousands of lives" and provides no major clinical health benefits, an FDA scientist said today.
The scientists, David Graham, is set to give a presentation today at an advisory meeting, and the recommendation that the drug should be pulled from the market comes from his slide presentation for that meeting, Bloomberg reports. The advisory board makes recommendations to the FDA, which the agency usually follows.
A recent study published in the *New England Journal of Medicine *found that Avandia caused a 43 percent increased risk of heart attacks.
Avandia's death is not imminent just yet though -- the Bloomberg article notes that Graham has disagreed with his colleagues in the past, and the advisory board will hear from many people today. But Graham has also been prescient: "He gained notoriety after calling for Merck & Co.'s painkiller Vioxx to be pulled from the market long before it was withdrawn in 2004 because of heart risks," according to Bloomberg.
