Dangerous Drug Update: Avandia Likely Stays on Market Despite Reports GlaxoSmithKline Withheld Avandia Data
The FDA expert panel voted 20 to 12 earlier today to keep Avandia on the market. The vote comes just days after a former FDA official claimed that GlaxoSmithKline, the makers of Avandia, withheld a study that showed Avandia might cause heart attacks,
Bloomberg reports
. The news is another blow to Avandia we the FDA continues hearings that could result in the drug being pulled from the market.
Reuters reports that the FDA will have the final decision
but the panel's vote is a big boost to GlaxoSmithKline. The vote came just days after Dr. Rosemary Johann-Liang, a former FDA manager, revealed that a 2001 study revealed that Avandia posed a greater risk than other medicines. Dr. Johann-Liang was being deposed in relation to a lawsuit against Avandia when she also stated that Glaxo didn't give the FDA an email that concluded Avandia "strengthened the signals" of heart attacks and other ailments.
This is the second FDA employee or ex-employee to criticize GlaxoSmithKline's handling of Avandia. Earlier this week, I posted about an FDA official criticizing Avandia's clinical trials. As recently as 2006 Avandia generated over $3 billion in sales so the recent studies and FDA comments could represent a huge blow to one of GlaxoSmithKline's flagship drugs.
Dangerous drugs, such as Avandia, might cause injuries or death. If an unreasonably dangerous or defective drug injures consumers than they may have legal claims against the manufacturer and could be compensated any losses they have suffered. Lawyers call this area of the law products liability .
Consulting an experienced products liability attorney is usually easy and can help you determine if you have a case.
This consumer protection information is provided by Louisville, Kentucky attorney Will Nefzger, a partner at Bahe Cook Cantley & Nefzger PLC. Please feel free to contact me directly for if you have any questions or would like more information. Just click here , and it will take you to a page containing biographical and contact information and here to e-mail Will directly. As always, we will keep you updated as developments with Avandia and other potentially dangerous drugs or products occur.
