Monday, June 28, 2010

Doctor Steven E. Nissen, a Cleveland Clinic cardiologist, did a study of more than 35,500
patients found that Avandia significantly raises the chances of a heart attack.

In one of the new analysis, Nissen and a colleague pooled data from 56 studies involving 35,531 patients, including 19,509 who took Avandia. In a paper released online by the Archives of Internal Medicine, the researchers concluded the drug increased the risk for heart attacks from 28 percent to 39 percent. The pair calculated that the drug would cause one heart attack among every 37 to 52 patients who used it for five years.

The second study was a federal analysis of more than 227,500 Medicare patients and found the drug boosts the risk for strokes, heart failure and death.

Avandia Heart Attack Risk

“There’s no reason to keep this drug on the market,” said Steven E. Nissen, a Cleveland Clinic cardiologist who conducted one of the analyses and has long criticized the drug. “This is a harmful drug.”