Avandia Diabetes Treatment - GSK (NYSE:GSK) Refutes Safety Allegations

The UK’s biggest pharmaceuticals company, GlaxoSmithKline (NYSE:GSK) recently issued a response to an article published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ), regarding the safety of a drug produced by GSK used in the treatment of diabetes, known as rosiglitazone, and sold under the brand name Avandia.

Fiona Godlee, The Editor-In-Chief of the BMJ had opined that the drug should be withdrawn from the market, and added that she thought the drug should not have been approved for use in the first place. Countering the statements made by the BMJ, GSK claimed that they had conducted extensive research programs on over 50,000 patients in order to assess the safety and benefits of Avandia, adding that no other diabetes drug introduced in the last decade had undergone such rigorous testing.

The controversy centers on the allegations that rosiglitazone/Avandia increased the susceptibility of patients to heart attack, stroke or death, a charge denied by GSK (NYSE:GSK). In its statement, GSK also refuted allegations that they had failed to reveal sufficient data regarding the extensive trials carried out on rosiglitazone that would have enabled an independent scientific scrutiny to be carried out, adding that all data regarding the cardiovascular safety of rosiglitazone had been made freely available by the company in journals, at scientific meetings as well as through their own websites. Drug regulatory authorities in both the US and Europe are currently said to be reviewing the benefits-risk profile of the drug, using extensive data pertaining to the drug.