About Avandia Diabetes Drug

Avandia Diabetes Drug Resource

Avandia Diabetes Drug Resource in Questions

The diabetes drug Avandia is linked to a greater risk of heart attack and possibly death, Worth the risk? The widely prescribed diabetes drug Avandia is linked to a greater risk of heart attack and possibly death, a new scientific analysis revealed, and the U.S. government issued a safety alert Monday. How do we measure the curative effects of new drugs against the side effects and risks?

Cinna replied: "I am on Avandia and will discuss my options on Wednesday. I am going to request an older drug that has had longer to be observed. I have no idea what his recommendation will be but it will ultimately be up to me to decide."

Avandia is a miracle drug for my diabetes, is it safe to take? I read in the paper that Avandia causes the same problems as Vioxx did. It has a 43% increase for a heart attack, but works so well on my sugar level. Any medical people that could give me the pros and cons on this?

miaghysun replied: "no is not...it icrease the risc of heart attack with 40%"

Semprus replied: "I think you have to be off your rocker to use ANYTHING that increases your risk of having a heart attack by 43%. Unless ofcourse you're terminally ill- which you're not."

RBRN replied: "No it is not safe to take. Studies have shown that Avandia has the potential to cause congestive heart failure. You heard right. There are other meds that work great but do not have that risk. Amaryl is just one of those."

nochocolate replied: "The doctors and pharmacists want you to continue taking the drug. You will have to decide for yourself. The medical professionals say that there isn't enough evidence and that the studies didn't use enough people etc. The government's own preliminary evaluation of the diabetes pill Avandia confirms the heart risks reported in a study earlier this week and suggests that as many as 60,000 to 100,000 heart attacks might be linked to its use since it came on the market eight years ago, a leading member of Congress said Thursday. The FDA said it was still reviewing data on Avandia's risks and had not reached conclusions. I have added this because of the answer below mine that says "the studies were sponsored by a drug company which competes with the one that makes Avandia". GlaxoSmithKline (THE MAKER OF AVANDIA) has made this statement "more reliable, longer-term studies had found no greater risks than those associated with other diabetes drugs." It's hard to know who to trust. . from Bloomberg.com The availability of other drugs, including Takeda Pharmaceutical Co.'s Actos, which works in a similar way and has a suggestion of heart protection, means Avandia, also known as rosiglitazone, isn't needed, he said. ``Physicians may find it difficult to explain to patients why they are starting treatment with a potentially dangerous drug when other choices with longer and better safety records are available,'' he said. ``The jury may still be out with regard to the cardiotoxicity of rosiglitazone, but when it comes to patients safety, `first, do no harm,' should outweigh any presumption of innocence.'' ."

justwondering replied: "The recent report was not a new study. It was a review of many old studies and did not contribute any new information. It was sponsored by a drug company which competes with the one that makes Avandia. 43% inrease over WHAT? I sat in a room full of experts who could not figure out how the media was getting that figure. Don't forget that diabetics have an increased risk for heart disease anyway. Statistics are easy manipulate any way you like. There was an "answer" published in the British medical journal, The Lancet, which completely blasted the first report, which was published in the New England Journal of Medicine. Both of these are respected journals, but I can tell you that in the medical community, many are shocked at how the paper was handles by the NEJM. I would strongly suggest that if you are that concerned you get the papers and read them yourself. Then discuss it with your doctors. EDIT: I would be very suspicious of websites that appear to have an agenda/bias and encourage you to contact a lawyer. Please make medical decisions in colaboration with your professional healthcare providers, not based on media hype or amateur websites."

♥Peachy♥™ replied: "No, it's not safe to take. Find out what else works on blood sugar level... like diet, weight management, and exercise. Read about Avandia here: Read about diet, weight management, and exercise here: I take Metformin. That, combined with good diet and exercise, works very well for many folks."

Becky W replied: "no i have only heard bad things about it"

diabetes and avandia? I am a 31 year old female with type 2 diabetes. I also have a congenetial heart disease called PFO (Patent Foramen Ovale). I am not on any medication for the PFO because it is small. They are just watching it for now as I grow older. Here is my problem. There has been a recent study on the type two diabetes drug avandia, about causing heart issues. I was on this drug for 3 years, 1998 to 2001. Then got pregnant and after the baby went on metmorfin. I am not sure what I should do. Get a EKG or what. I mean that was 6 years ago you would of thought I would have had side effects by now. Any ideas.

john e russo md replied: "You should do nothing so far as your history of having taken rosiglitazone/Avandia is concerned. There was not a recent study but rather a recent meta-analysis. This is where a researcher looks at the results of various studies and tries to draw conclusions. The conclusion was that the drug might be linked to heart attacks or heart failures. The Food and Drug Administration did not find this meta-analysis compelling. Quite honestly I concluded from the meta-analysis that rosiglitazone was not a problem. There is a trial on-going to look at whether or not the drug has adverse effects upon the heart. Based upon the early results of this trial and previous trials the Food and Drug Administration is cautioning physicians that rosiglitazone/Avandia and pioglitazone/Actos may best be avoided in those with heart failure which does not mean that the drugs cause heart failure. In your case it has been 6 years since you took rosiglitazone. Nothing happened. Nothing to worry about. I hope that your diabetes is doing well. I wish you the best of health. And may God bless."

justwondering replied: "Take home point: There was no new information in the article. It was funded by the manufacturer of a competitor of Avandia. The New England Journal of Medicine has been taken to task for publishing it. There was a scathing reply in the British medical journal, the Lancet."

does anyone know the long term affects of metformin and avandia for diabetes? what kind of reactions do you have with these drugs. i just started taking them i feel nausiated

gy650 replied: "Perhaps you can ween yourself off the meds with a proper diabetic diet. Diet Guidelines Blood Sugar Management"

GeeGee replied: "Lots of people starting on metformin have gastro distress- gas, "the runs", naseua, but many say it passes with time. I have taken Avandia (plus other non diabetes meds) for 4 yrs without any symptoms,. Hope yours subside, good luck."

Steve K replied: "The Metformin is what is causing you nausea. That is a very common side effect of this medication. Their is a extended-release metformin which can decrease the nausea problem. The most common side effect of Metformin are: diarrhea, nausea, bloating, stomach pain, gas, constipation, and unpleasant metallic taste in mouth. As for the avandia usually it is tolerated very well. But should not be used in a patient with heart disease. As for long term side effects from these medication you will decrease your chances of having complication from high blood sugar like neuropathy, heart disease, retinopathy and nephrothapy. According to all current study they have not showed any bad long term side effects so far. Good luck hope this helps!"

How do we get compensated for Medication balance, When it is taken off the market by Drug Companies? Avandia... Diabetes medication, May cause heart attacks. What do we do with extra tablets left over, How do we get compensated and from whom.

drixnot replied: "http://www.aws-law.com/avandia.asp"

CantTellYouMyName replied: "Avandia has NOT been taken off the market. IF the drug is officially taken off the market (I don't think it will be), the manufacturer MIGHT offer refunds for remaining tablets. If they do so, it would be handled through the pharmacy that filled the prescription. It's pretty rare that it would happen, though, so don't bank on it. Don't stop taking the medication without talking to your doctor first. The risk of stopping the medication is higher than the risk of taking it. Call your doctor, tell them your concerns, and ask if there's something else you can take instead if the doctor shares your concerns. Keep in mind...it happens all the time that one study comes out showing one thing and the next study shows the opposite. The FDA has not withdrawn Avandia from the market, and neither has the manufacturer. Unless that happens, any talk of refunds is premature. Even then, it might not happen."

What do you think of this statement about Avandia? CBS News - 43 minutes ago (WebMD) There's no urgent need for type 2 diabetes patients to stop taking Avandia, even if the drug really does increase the risk of heart attack, some medical experts caution.

Pahd replied: "I think it is good advice. If my patients ask, I am telling them to continue the avandia until they can speak with the doctor who gave them the prescription for the avandia. If they have had significant cardiovascular problems in the past, I am urging them to talk to their doctor ASAP, otherwise I advise them to make a regular appointment, or to speak with their prescribing doctor on the phone. In other words, don't stop taking the avandia without speaking to the doctor who gave it to you."

W W D replied: "It's a complicated world. If you're not familiar with meta-analyses, it may seem that something sinister is going on, but this is pretty well business as usual in medicine, where real take-to-the-bank answers are hard to come by. Statistical trends often are misleading, and it will take considerable study looking specifically at that question to determine if rosiglitazone really does what it appears to in terms of cardiovascular risks. You might want to think about this: medications for type II diabetes are usually studied and marketed with an eye to how well they control blood sugar, and blood pressure medications are usually studied and marketed according to how well they control hypertension. It is generally assumed that keeping these controlled will also control cardiovascular risk, but that assumption may very well not be true. The alternative is to keep them in phase III clinical trials for thirty or forty years to get more studies of that particular question, but most of us don't want to wait that long for drugs to come on-line."

john e russo md replied: "I have already answered a question about rosiglitazone/Avandia. Rosiglitazone belongs to a family of drugs which reduce the body's resistance to the effects of insulin. This is a very important class of drugs for type 2 diabetics for whom insulin resistance is universally present leading to increasing production of insulin and eventually pancreatic beta cell failure and the inability to produce insulin. The first drug in this class used in the United States was troglitazone. It was withdrawn by the company for fear of lawsuits. The problem was not with the drug itself it was that physicians ignored warnings that the drug was not for everyone. The 2 remaining drugs in this class in the US are rosiglitazone and pioglitazone/Actos. It is frequently stated in the medical literature that pioglitazone increases the risk of heart failure although there is absolutely no evidence to support this claim. The study which alleges that rosiglitazone may lead to cardiovascular events such as heart attacks, strokes, and deaths has serious flaws which I will outline below. This study is of more interest to attorneys who smell money than it is to physicians. As such the Food and Drug Administration at this time has stated that they have no intention of placing warnings or restrictions on rosiglitazone. The study you are referring to was a meta-analysis. Meta-analysis are by their very definition statistically 'invalid'. They are intended to identify areas where additional study is needed - meta-analysis is never intended to generate 'hard' data, conclusions, or to become the basis for changes in medical practice. A meta-analysis sums up the results of a variety of studies. Such studies have different designs and are designed to answer different questions. It should be obvious that a summation of such data would have inherent limitations. That being said the meta-analysis was a summation of studies of short duration and studies of short duration introduce significant bias for a variety of reasons. The full effect of drugs - for benefit or harm - may take months or years and the likelihood of events is quite different in the short run as opposed to the long run. Finally - the number of events were few - too few in my opinion to lead to any conclusion. For example - 18 people on rosiglitazone as opposed to 12 people on other treatment suffered adverse events. It is true that this is a 50% increase but something which is statistically significant may not be clinically relevant. For example - a study of a drug to increase exercise tolerance in people with narrowing of the arteries in the legs found that the drug produced a statistically significant increase in exercise tolerance. In fact - however - people were able to walk only 3 additional steps. This illustrates the difference between statistics which are easily manipulated and clinically relevant data. Personally I have always preferred pioglitazone to rosiglitazone but not because I believe that the former is safer. No one on rosiglitazone should stop the drug without consulting their physician. Again - at this point this is a legal concern rather than a medical concern. Many drugs are withdrawn after such articles as companies fear lawsuits. Physicians must practice in accordance with the medical literature and not out of fear of attorneys."

crowfeathers replied: "The person above who said this: "It's a complicated world. If you're not familiar with meta-analyses, it may seem that something sinister is going on" Well that's exactly how I feel. You don't know what to do and you don't have enough information to decide yourself. Even if you did have the information, could you understand it? Look at some of the other answers to this question! I had to read them all twice to understand what they were saying. Hopefully your doctor will be informed enough to make the decision for you. It is a complicated world after all. Here for anyone who wants to get a better idea of what meta-analasys means ."

Balasubas replied: "I am diabetic ( Type 2 ), and I used to take Avandia. I am happy that the doctor switched my meds long before this warning about Avandia came out. It still worries me. I feel sorry if those who take, or are still taking Avandia, get heart problems. Web MD you are nuts!!!"

Has anyone had a problem on the Accord study for diabetes? Does anyone feel very overmedicated on the Accord study for diabetes? Has anyone had problems with Avandia? New drugs and incredible increases in number and dosages seem to be causing problems.

Is your Quack Doctor. Killing you with Actos or Avandia? I have been for years trying to tell people not to use avandia or actos. Before it was because of problems with heart disease. Now it is with bone disorders. glitazone" diabetes drugs Actos and Avandia may double or triple the risk of broken bones after a year or two of use. The finding comes from Swiss researchers who analyzed 12 years of data on U.K. diabetes patients. They compared the 1,020 patients who suffered some kind of fracture to 3,728 matched patients who did not break any bones. Over the course of the study, most of the patients took several diabetes drugs. But those who refilled their Actos or Avandia prescriptions eight times or more -- about 12 to 18 months of use -- had nearly twice the fracture risk of other patients. And those who refilled their Actos or Avandia prescriptions 15 times or more -- two or more years of treatment -- nearly tripled their risk of fracture, found Christophe R. Meier, PhD, head of pharmacoepidemiology research at University Hospital Basel, Switzerland, and colleagues. "We found a very strong signal here for higher risk of fractures in people taking glitazones," Meier tells WebMD. "Our evidence fits together nicely with animal models and clinical reports suggesting that these drugs have a detrimental effect on bone. And we did not find any increased risk for other diabetes drugs, so all together, it looks like something really is going on here."

towanda replied: "I took actos for a while. I also took the one that people were dying from-I woke up one morning and this black lady had died from liver disease. The thing no one talked about is that that same pill caused my hair to thin. That would have been nice to know too. But you do realize that when you start taking all the meds, you are betting that the damage your liver, kidneys, etc caused by the meds will lengthen your life longer than not taking them. What's the bigger killer is the doctors that have a blase attitude about what diabetics need and the importance of getting their sugar under control. I went to a doctor for years that overpilled me and just told me I needed to go on a diet. If I could have controlled my eating more, I wouldn't have diabetes. I was given pills with no way to control my sugar. You take the pills and eat less, then your sugar is low and you can't function. I finally found a doctor and I take what I need and alter to fit what I'm eating. . .as I should have been years ago. It's oh no, you can't possibly be smart enough to do that. Please, it's my life and absolute control is necessary from the very beginning instead of all the ups and downs. Or at least give people a choice-learn and take care of yourself or just take the pills, whatever the consequences. I'm on my way to googling glizazones. Thanks. . ."

Mr. Peachy® replied: "No. Actually, my doctor is not a quack. Just a conventionally schooled MD. Who also happens to be into some alternatives, thanks to me. I would never, ever recommend a sulfonylurea to anyone either: MDs have a real problem. How on earth do you get the average lazy, convenience oriented patient to do what Mr. Peachy has done?.... Research, research, research, along with plenty of trial and error. Finally, a solution!! Duhhh! Eat the foods our bodies were made to eat... natural foods. Do what our bodies were made to do.... be active and get plenty of exercise. This is not rocket science, folks. Type two diabetes can be fought. You just have to get off your butt, learn a little, and just do it. Unfortunately, the average person doesn't have the wherewithal, so doctors just give up and prescribe these dangerous drugs and the patients are too lazy to look up the pros and cons and blindly trust their doctor. More...."

When will drug companies stop watching profits and start watching safety? between avandia and vioxx thats many dead americans. Because drug companies control the FDA we have these problems. netjr thanks for the vote of optimism but in Vioxx and likely in this one the data was falsified. They left out cardiac mortality!!!

scruffycat replied: "When pigs sprout wings and fly."

bush-deathgrip replied: "if there are profits.......who cares who dies."

wisdomforfools replied: "Never."

evilmonk66 replied: "when capitalism falters then no one will be able to afford drugs"

jonny y replied: "when laws exist that hold individuals responsible for their decisions that affect the public health and welfare. now they hide behind the fiction of corporate responsibility."

gayconservativ replied: "Avandia, Vioxx.... what else? What else?? These men and women dedicate their careers to making the drugs that help people live better lives. If there are no "profits" where is the incentive to create?"

kprofaith replied: "Never! You are right though, the FDA IS controlled by the drug companies, and they controll most of congress too. This is why we don't have a health care system in the US, because the drug co's would lose all that fat money they are sitting on! Others lives means nothing to them, and its obvious."

netjr replied: "Millions upon millions of people take drugs and "LIVE" thanks to those "EVIL" drug companies. They spend plenty on research and development so our lives might be better; but people like you would throw them down a rat whole because of a terrible mistake."

Chainsaw replied: "A lot of people who take these are going to die without them. It is far better to die of a heart attack that I have a higher risk for than to die from an incurable disease."

kaisergirl_1 replied: "They wont becuase the FDA is just one more corrupt institution."

elias replied: "how many hundreds of medications have been approved and not pulled off the market because of safety issues? of course they are concerned with safety. hundreds of medications never even make it to market thanks to animal testing (sorry PETA). I don't believe any medication is 100% safe all the time. even tylenol has a maximum of 4000mg, and can't be taken with alcohol. We have all these disease advocacy groups demanding a cure for everything, and yet we all rip on them when something is recalled. we can't have it both ways, with the innovation is risk. some people will have side effects, some unfortunately will die. that's the price we pay for demanding a drug for everything."

Stony replied: "Historically speaking, it has been EXTREMELY RARE for corporations to police themselves adequately without government regulation."

mjyodice replied: "Again. Drug companies invest billions of dollars into research and development. It takes between 10 and 15 years to get a drug to the public. Patents only last about 7 years. Are they not entitled to make a profit from that time and effort so that they can start on another drug and start the whole process all over again. Capitalism. It works. Try it sometime."