USA Today: Avandia safety debate shows flaws in FDA drug monitoring
USA Today: Avandia safety debate shows flaws in FDA drug monitoring. USA Today (7/9) editorializes, “Since 2005, evidence has mounted that the blockbuster diabetes drug Avandia [rosiglitazone maleate] might increase the risk of cardiovascular complications — including heart attacks, one of the major causes of death among diabetics.” Yet, “the drug is still on the market, and scientists still are battling over its safety.” This “prolonged battle leaves nervous patients in the lurch — and renews questions about whether America’s medication safety watchdog, the Food and Drug Administration, is effectively monitoring drugs after they’ve been approved for sale. As with Vioxx [rofecoxib], the popular painkiller pulled off the market in 2004, the FDA has lagged several steps behind independent researchers.”