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Avandia Update

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Lots going on in GlaxoSmithKline’s Avandia world. They’ve been wounded but avoided summary execution yesterday when twelve of 33 members voted to allow it to stay on the market, albeit with significant restrictions and black box warnings. See CNN’s article.
One expert cited in the article noted that:

“I don’t have any patients currently taking Avandia,” said Nathan. He stopped prescribing the drug because “it just didn’t make sense,” considering there are alternatives that didn’t carry the potential risk, he said.

It makes sense to me. Even if the FDA’s vote wasn’t the immediate death-knell, I think it was a mortal wound. Avandia will wither away and die later so GSK can claim that it was pulled for non-safety reasons.