Diabetes drug might hike heart risk.A popular prescription drug prescription drug Prescription medication Pharmacology An FDA-approved drug which must, by federal law or regulation, be dispensed only pursuant to a prescription–eg, finished dose form and active ingredients subject to the provisos of the Federal Food, Drug, for type 2, or adult-onset, diabetes increases a person's risk of heart attack, an analysis of 42 clinical trials suggests. The drug, called rosiglitazone or Avandia, is taken to lower blood sugar. The Food and Drug Administration approved the drug in 1999, and more than 11 million prescriptions were filled for it last year in the United States United States, officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. . In the new analysis, researchers tabulated heart attacks among 15,560 people with diabetes who got rosiglitazone in various trials and 12,283 people who also had diabetes but didn't receive the drug. There were 86 heart attacks in the rosiglitazone group and 72 in the control group. After statistical adjustment, that yields a 43 percent higher risk of heart attack among rosiglitazone users, says study coauthor Steven E. Nissen, a cardiologist at the Cleveland Clinic. He and his colleague Kathy Wolski report the findings online and in the June 14 New England Journal of Medicine The New England Journal of Medicine (New Engl J Med or NEJM) is an English-language peer-reviewed medical journal published by the Massachusetts Medical Society. It is one of the most popular and widely-read peer-reviewed general medical journals in the world. . Philadelphia-based GlaxoSmithKline makes rosiglitazone. The company's chief medical officer, Ronald L. Krall, responded online in Lancet that the data show only rare heart attacks in the large patient populations analyzed. He argues that a close analysis of past and ongoing trials of rosiglitazone will acquit To set free, release or discharge as from an obligation, burden or accusation. To absolve one from an obligation or a liability; or to legally certify the innocence of one charged with a crime. acquit v. the drug. The FDA FDA abbr. Food and Drug Administration FDA, n.pr See Food and Drug Administration. FDA, n.pr the abbreviation for the Food and Drug Administration. has assigned a panel to reconsider the drug's approval. |
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