Avandia, the popular medication for Type 2 diabetes, is being dropped by at least two major pharmaceutical companies – a further sign that the drug’s reported increase of heart risk may be taking its toll.

Who’s dropping it?

According to news reports, HealthTrans Pharmacy and Prime Therapeutics will drop Avandia, from their drug plans beginning in 2008. According to Ryan Haynes, R.Ph., Director of Clinical Services for Health Trans, "Our first concern is the safety of individuals taking medications included in our value-based formulary. Our P&T committee analyzed available data and weighed the benefits with the potential risks and determined that Avandia presents a greater risk for adverse events than benefits at this time."

In addition to these companies, the United States Department of Veterans Affairs also reported that it would not offer Avandia to patients on an ongoing basis; however, they would continue to prescribe it for those patients already taking it.

Damaging studies

Although Avandia has been on the market since 1999, it was only recently the focus of several damaging studies. The first was a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine in May of 2007 that reported a 43% increase in heart risks for patients taking the drug. Another recent study, conducted by the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Science for the Ontario government, analyzed 160,000 Canadian patients taking Avandia, also known as Rosiglitazone.

Conducted over a four year period, the study followed patients who were 65 or older. The results of the study showed that patients taking Avandia had a 60% greater risk of heart failure, a 40% greater risk of having a heart attack and a 29% greater risk of death. Although the study was conducted in Canada, industry experts report that the findings are significant as it was independently funded by the Canadian government and therefore not biased.

Finally, another study has shown that Avandia may also be linked to osteoporosis. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has reported that females taking Avandia experienced greater fractures of the upper arm, hand, or foot. Although the FDA has asked SmithKline Glaxo to conduct further studies on all the adverse effects of the drug, the results of those studies won’t be known until 2014 – which may be too little, too late.

If you’ve experienced heart issues while taking Avandia, contact an attorney whose practice focuses in this area of law. To contact an attorney near you, please click here.