Is Avandia Safe Enough?

Should the controversial diabetes drug Avandia be removed from the market? British drug regulators have concluded that the risks outweigh the benefits. An editorial in the prestigious British journal BMJ goes a step further and poses the question, why did drug regulators accept such poor evidence of benefit and safety in the first place? Despite reassurances from the manufacturer GSK that the drug has value and should remain on the market, there appears to be a growing wave of concern regarding its link to cardiovascular disease. If European regulators remove Avandia, it will put increased pressure on the Food and Drug Administration to take action as well.

[BMJ, online Sept 6, 2010]