Star: PETALING JAYA: Diabetics taking the drug Avandia should continue with their treatment and seek advice from their physician, said GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceutical Sdn Bhd medical affairs director Dr Sharmila Ramachandran.
She said the company received many enquiries from patients who were on the drug prescribed for Type II diabetics after a study was published in the New England Journal of Medicine this week which stated that there was an increased risk of cardiac-related deaths and heart attacks.
The study showed that there was a 43% increase in heart attack risk and a 64% increase in heart attack death in patients who were on thiazolidinedione drugs. These are Avandia and Actos made by Takeda.
Dr Sharmila also said the company “strongly disagreed” with the conclusions of the article, questioning the methodology used by the author Dr Steve Nissen, Cleveland Clinic chief cardiologist.
A statement by the firm said that it had commissioned three surveys.
One of them, the Adopt trial done recently, showed only a small increase of myocardial infarction for Avandia users at 1.65%.
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