Avandia (Rosiglitazone) Lawsuit News:

UBS Says Avandia lawsuits pose up to $6B risk to GSK

-Ennislaw

03/15/2010 - The UBS (Union Bank of Switzerland) reported publicly last week that pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline PLC could end up liable for more than $6 billion in settlements and compensation for serious health complications caused by the company’s popular diabetes treatment medication Avandia. The type-2 diabetes prescription drug has been linked with severe heart problems, including heart attacks.

Even though the FDA has said Avandia patients should keep taking the drug until they consulted with a healthcare provider, UBS said the FDA will be under pressure to pull it from the market.

“Non-scientific political pressure from Congress will likely be as important as science at FDA in the coming months; and, product withdrawal, if it occurs, could put GSK at the top end of our liability range,” UBS added. “Bellwether trials start from 1 June and will help narrow our liability range.”

UBS said GSK faces more than 13,000 lawsuits.

A county in California has also filed suite against GSK.

Avandia's potential to raise the risk of heart attacks in some patients was brought to light in a 2007 New England Medical Journal article that reported a 43 per cent higher risk of heart attacks among Avandia patients.

Then last June, scientists working on a large study called RECORD, concluded that Avandia did increase heart failure risk in some patients, but didn't increase the risk of cardiovascular death compared with standard diabetes drugs.

The pendulum swung again last August when a Canadian study published in the British Medical Journal concluded that Avandia carried a higher risk of heart failure and death than Actos.

The Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences (ICES) researchers in that study concluded switching 1 million patients from Avandia to Actos would prevent 3,700 deaths and 8,300 people from going to hospital around the world.

Last month, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued a notice to say it was still reviewing all the studies on Avandia and was not yet ready to offer recommendations about the use of the drug. It's planning to offer its assessment of the drug's risks and benefits at a meeting in July, 2010.

Avandia Class Action Lawsuit Cases Still Being Accepted:

The lawyers of Ennis & Ennis, P.A. are still accepting Avandia side effects cases and have extensive experience representing plaintiffs in Avandia lawsuits nationwide.