Quoted from http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/booster_shots/2009/07/new-problems-for-diabetes-drug-avandia.html
Diabetes drug Avandia comes under new criticism
10:15 AM, July 25, 2009
The diabetes drug rosiglitazone, already under fire because it has been found to increase the risk of heart attacks, can also produce liver failure and death in some patients, researchers from the activist group Public Citizen said this week.
They wrote in the journal Pharmacoepidemiology and Drug Safety that a review of adverse events reported to the Food and Drug Administration found 11 deaths due to liver toxicity between 1997 and 2006 associated with the drug, which is sold under the brand name Avandia. The group had petitioned the FDA in October to ban the drug because of the heart risks, and they renewed their call for action.
"Because of low reporting rates to the [FDA] database, the 11 cases likely represent a small fraction of the patients who developed liver failure because of the drug," said Dr. James Floyd of Public Citizen. He estimated that 1 in every 44,000 patients who take the drug develops liver failure.
