Thaindian News

By Gina Gomez
June 29, (THAINDIAN NEWS) The diabetic drug Avandia, which was considered to be one of the leading medications for patients suffering from Type 2 diabetes, faced a setback on Monday after a FDA study linked it with higher risk of heart attacks while another study associated with higher risk of heart failure and stroke. The recent revelation about the diabetic drug comes just two weeks before the Food and Drug Administration is scheduled to hold a debate about the safety concerns of Avandia.

In one of the study which was published by the Journal of the American Medical Association on Monday, the scientists compared the health records of as many as 227, 571 Americans within the age group of 74 who were being administered Avandia or the rival drug Actos and found out that Avandia might indeed pose an increased threat to heart. Following the research which was carried out for three years, the scientists concluded that Avandia patients were 27 per cent more likely to suffer from a stroke, 25 more likely to develop heart failure and had 14 per cent higher chances of dying due to heart related ailments than those patients who were being administered Actos.

Dr. David Graham, who is the lead author of the study reiterated that if 60 diabetic patients were administered Avandia, an additional case of heart failure, cardiac arrest or death would be reported that could have been reverted if Actos was given to the patient instead. The FDA scientists who has emphasized that the drug should be banned, further states that the evidence that has been found against Avandia is ‘overwhelming’ with every study pointing out that the drug is worse than Actos.