GlaxoSmithKline continues to defend the diabetes treatment. Its CEO, Andrew Witty, recently stated that the risk-benefit profile of Avandia “remains positive,” based on all available information. He said that Glaxo will continue to defend the drug against an FDA recall.
Glaxo faces over 2,000 pending lawsuits filed by diabetics across the U.S. after a study was published by the New England Journal of Medicine in 2007 linking Avandia use to an increased risk of heart attack and congestive heart failure. Critics of the drug call for an Avandia recall. The fate of the diabetes drug will be the subject of a July FDA meeting.
Due largely to safety concerns, sales of the drug have plummeted over the past 3 years. Despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary, Witty claims the company has “done all the right things” with regard to Avandia.