Avandia
AVANDIA DEFECTIVE DRUG LITIGATION ATTORNEYS
Focusing on Injury Claims Related to the Glaxosmithkline Drug Avandia
The defective drug lawyers at Keefe Bartels & Clark are investigating potential injury claims about Avandia (also known as Rosiglitazone) which is an anti-diabetic drug marketed by GlaxoSmithKline. Our defective drug attorney research reveals that more than 6 million people have taken Avandia since it came on the market in 1999. This prescription drug has been used to treat Type 2 ("adult-onset" or "non-insulin dependent") diabetes, which is the most common form of diabetes. Avandia may be prescribed by a physician alone or in combination with other drugs in medications named Avandaryl and Avandamet.
Our team of defective drug lawyers have found that on May 21, 2007 the Food and Drug Administration ("FDA") issued a safety alert (http://www.fda.gov/medwatch/safety/2007/safety07.htm#Avandia) on Avandiaindicating that data from controlled clinical trials revealed there was a potentially significant increase in the risk of attack and heart-related deaths in patients taking Avandia. The statistical risk in this studies showed an increase of the risk of heart problems by a factor of between 30% to 40%. The FDA urged individuals taking this drug to talk with their doctors. Despite the alert, the FDA did not require GlaxoSmithKline to change to the warning label, issue a "black box" warning (the name for a warning indicating serious and adverse effects) or take any other form of remedial action.
Recently, the June 14, 2007 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine associated the use of Avandiato a [slightly] increased risk of heart attack. A broad study (called a "meta-analysis") reviewed 42 separate studies comparing individuals using Avandiato individuals not using the drug. The study concluded that patients taking Avandiafaced a 43% increased risk of heart attack and a 64% increased risk of dying from heart related or cardiovascular disease. Our defective drug attorneys are focusing on the potential harmful effects of the prescription drug Avandiaand are willing to speak to you.
Our lawyers are looking out for the public interest of potentially dangerous drugs, including Avandia, and are focusing on the increasing concern in the United States that medical and pharmaceutical companies are not releasing all of the data on the safety and efficacy of their drugs. Additionally, there is a well placed fear that if the FDA fails to timely investigate and detect safety concerns with such drugs, such as Avandia, the pharmaceutical industry will not act on their own volution. Consequently, only after consumers are injured and the harms and risk of a drug become public knowledge will significant remedial action be taken. In some instances a strong warning label may be a enough to alert the medical community and the end-users of the drug's safety concerns. In others as we have seen in the past, a drug must be recalled by the company due to the unreasonably high risk it possesses to an individual's health and well-being.
The road blocks corporate and insurance America puts in the way of ordinary citizens can take many forms. Unfortunately today these Fortune 500 companies often place profits over the health and safety of consumers. As such, marketing of "blockbuster" profits drugs like Avandiatake precedent. Despite its undisclosed risks, Avandiagenerates approximately $3.2 billion in annual sales for GlaxoSmithKline. While the FDA may be engaged in measures and efforts to protect consumers, often the risks and harms associated with a new drug are not readily apparent. There is a vast difference between the trials of a new drug directed at a limited test pool for FDA approval, than the mass marketing of the drug to millions of consumers. This has become more readily apparent each day in the news.
The defective drug attorneys at Keefe Bartels & Clark are hard at work doing their part to protect the public from corporations that knowingly market potentially dangerous drugs such as Avandia. If you or a loved one have taken the drug Avandiaand have experienced heart attack or other cardiac related problems, you may have a legal claim or lawsuit related to Avandia. Contact the defective drug attorneys at Keefe Bartels & Clark to see if they can help you.