Avandia Study Shows Heart Attack Risk Higher

Lee Coleman

Contributor

1 CommentPrint ArticleSubscribe

The New England Journal of Medicine released an early finding that will appear in it's June 14 issue due to their public health importance. Avandia is used to treat type 2 diabetes. Researchers reported it can increase users risk for heart attack by 43 percent.

"More than 2 million people worldwide now take Avandia for type 2 diabetes, generating $3.2 billion in annual sales for the GlaxoSmithKline, according to The New York Times. Avandia was first approved for the treatment of type 2 diabetes in 1999.
For the new study, Dr. Steven Nissen and his colleague Kathy Wolski at the Cleveland Clinic evaluated 42 studies that compared patients taking Avandia with patients not using the drug. The studies included almost 28,000 patients, 15,560 of whom were taking Avandia.
The researchers found the risk of a heart attack was increased 43 percent among those taking Avandia, and there was a 64 percent increased risk of dying from cardiovascular causes, compared with patients not taking the drug."