Originally, scientists found that the diabetes drug Avandia could cause heart attacks, so is now used as a drug of last resort (hey, how about those prescription drug commercials which use half the time to describe the possible side effects, like blindness, dark urine, and death? I really like the one about depression drugs causing suicidal thoughts). Anyhow, since the science was settle….
(WSJ) Food and Drug Administration documents released Monday suggested the agency was considering reviving a drug that has been highly restricted for nearly three years—the GlaxoSmithKline GSK.LN -0.58% PLC diabetes pill Avandia—and restoring it to full marketing status in the U.S.
Such a step is still far from certain, but it is on the agenda this week as the agency convenes a 28-member advisory committee of doctors to study the profile of Avandia, once a $3-billion-a-year medicine.
Glaxo recently paid for Duke University to review company research on Avandia. The Duke review upheld a Glaxo study that found the drug didn’t increase the risk of death or cardiovascular death.
A lengthy FDA analysis, made public Monday, endorsed the Duke review and, by implication, the company’s defense of its drug.
See, that’s the way science works. One study said “uh, oh, heart attack potential”, so another study was held. Because it was by the maker, there was concern about bias. So it was reviewed.
In the APS it is ok to discuss whether the mass of the proton changes over time and how a multi-universe behaves, but the evidence of global warming is incontrovertible?
That was from the resignation letter Nobel Prize winning physicist Ivar Giaever wrote the American Physical Society.
