Emails Confirm GlaxoSmithKline Concealed Avandia Injury Concerns
A series of e-mails confirm what medical injury lawyers have suspected for months now - that GlaxoSmithKline has been long aware of the side effects associated with the use of its diabetes medication, Avandia.
In 2007, a study by pioneering Cleveland Clinic cardiologist Dr. Steven Nissen, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, revealed that patients who took Avandia are at a higher risk of developing cardiac disease. Doctor Nissen studied the effects of Avandia use in more than 15,000 patients, monitoring 12,283 subjects in a control group. He found 86 cases of myocardial infarction in the group that was given Avandia, compared to 72 cases in the control group, and 39 deaths among Avandia users as opposed to 22 deaths in the control group. At the time, Dr. Nissen acknowledged that a few deaths in more than 15 thousand subjects may seem like an inconsequential number, but because the studies were conducted over a short period of time and because of the increased risk of heart disease in diabetic patients, the enhanced incidence of heart attacks in Avandia users was cause for worry. Glaxo was quick to refute the findings of the study. The company released a statement questioning the methods used by Dr. Nissen, but the FDA quickly issued a safety alert on Avandia.
Since then, the link between Avandia and heart disease has become stronger with more numbers of people killed and hundred of cases of heart failure. Now, reports indicate that the company was aware of the increased risk all along. According to reports, senior GlaxoSmithKline scientists wrote e-mails just before the publication of Doctor Nissan's study admitting that his findings were "very similar" to the conclusions reached by GlaxoSmithKline. The company, at the time, was under scrutiny because of the Vioxx scandal which associated Merck's painkiller with an increased risk of heart disease. The Vioxx concerns ended with the company withdrawing the drug and hundreds of medical injury lawsuits filed by patients who suffered heart attacks after taking Vioxx. Desperate to avoid Merck's fate, Glaxo went all out to criticize Dr. Nissen's findings almost immediately after publication of the study. Avandia use has decreased dramatically since then, but it remains on the market and thousands of patients continue to take the drug.
Pursuing Medical Injury Claims
Pharmaceutical companies may often hide important safety information about their drugs in order to remove obstacles in their marketing plan. Such suppression of information may be grounds for a medical injury lawsuit against the drug maker in the event of injuries caused by the drug.
If you or a loved one have suffered heart problems after taking Avandia, you may have grounds for compensation. Contact the medical injury lawyers at Arnold & Itkin LLP for a free evaluation of your case.
