New study finds little difference in cardiac risk for GlaxoSmithKline's Avandia and Takeda's Actos

25 August 2010

In contrast to previous reports, the risks of the composite endpoint of heart attack, heart failure, both, or death were the same - about 4% - for patients taking the diabetes drugs Avandia (rosiglitazone) from UK pharma giant GlaxoSmithKline (GSK: L) or Actos (pioglitazone) from Takeda (4502.TO), Japan's largest drugmaker, according to a study published in the American Heart Association journal Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes.

This is clearly welcome news for GSK, whose Avandia - which has been the subject of severe adverse comment about its side effects for the past few years (and has seen its sales significantly reduced) - missed being taken off the US market after a Food and Drug Administration advisory panel voted in support of the drug (The Pharma Letter July 15). Avandia's future is also under review by the European Medicines Agency (EMEA).

Actos gained from negative safety profile of Avandia

This article is accessible to registered users, to continue reading please register for free. A free trial will give you access to exclusive features, interviews, round-ups and commentary from the sharpest minds in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology space for a week. If you are already a registered user please login. If your trial has come to an end, you can subscribe here.

Try before you buy

Free

7 day trial access

Take a Free Trial

All the news that moves the needle in pharma and biotech
Exclusive features, podcasts, interviews, data analyses and commentary from our global network of life sciences reporters.
Receive The Pharma Letter daily news bulletin, free forever.

Become a subscriber

£820

Or £77 per month

Subscribe Now

Unfettered access to industry-leading news, commentary and analysis in pharma and biotech.
Updates from clinical trials, conferences, M&A, licensing, financing, regulation, patents & legal, executive appointments, commercial strategy and financial results.
Daily roundup of key events in pharma and biotech.
Monthly in-depth briefings on Boardroom appointments and M&A news.
Choose from a cost-effective annual package or a flexible monthly subscription

The Pharma Letter is an extremely useful and valuable Life Sciences service that brings together a daily update on performance people and products. It’s part of the key information for keeping me informed

Chairman, Sanofi Aventis UK