FDA Panel: Keep Avandia on Market

But it may get warning label on heart risks
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Jul 14, 2010 3:22 PM CDT
FDA Panel Backs Keeping Avandia on Market
A file photo of a bottle of Avandia.   (Paul Sakuma)

A majority of federal health experts has voted to keep the controversial diabetes pill Avandia on the market despite evidence that it increases the risk of heart attack. A panel of Food and Drug Administration advisers voted 20-12 against withdrawing GlaxoSmithKline's once-blockbuster drug. The agency is not required to follow the group's advice, but it usually follows the advice of its advisory committees.

Panelists who voted to keep the drug on the market were split between several options, including adding new warning labels and restricting use of the drug. Avandia has been under federal scrutiny since 2007, when an analysis first suggested it might cause heart attack. (More Avandia stories.)

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