Avandia has been on the market since 1999. It is supposed to help patients with type II diabetes keep their blood sugar levels under control. Controlling blood sugar is believed to help prevent or delay long term complications of diabetes such as damage to the eyes, kidneys, and most importantly, the cardiovascular system. Diabetics are at increased risk of clogging of arteries (atherosclerosis), a condition that leads to heart attack and stroke. Heart disease is the number one cause of mortality among diabetic paients.

Avandia was approved by the FDA by promising that by helping lower blood sugar, it would help prevent diabetic complications, including heart disease.  However, internal documents of the Avandia manufacturer GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) recently released to a Congressional Committee investigating the company, show that the British drug giant continually lied about Avandia's safety in order to get the drug approved and keep it on the market.

It has now been revealed that GSK knew from the start that its drug had serious detrimental effects on the cardiovascular system.  Data from clinical trials signaled to the company that their drug was causing increased heart attacks and deaths among the patients participating in the trials. However, instead of investigating those worrisome reports, GSK did everything in its power to conceal Avandia’s problems from the FDA and similar regulatory agencies in Europe.  At all these steps, GSK chose to place its profits over patients’ safety.  Obviously, GSK was successful at its efforts. Shortly after marketing Avandia became GSK’s second best-selling drug. In 2006 alone, before Avandia problems surfaced in 2007, GSK reaped over $3 billion in Avandia sales.

What has been disclosed from the GSK conduct with regard to Avandia shows a pattern of lies, half-truths, and spin. At the July 13-14 FDA meeting, Dr. Thomas Marciniak, a Medical Team leader at the FDA, showed how GSK tampered with clinical trial data to conceal the results that would reveal that avandia was causing higher heart attacks, strokes, and heart-related deaths among study participants. A recent study showed that over 80% of scientists publishing articles portraying Avandia in a positive light had financial ties to GSK. It was further revealed that a majority of published scientific articles in support of Avandia, which the company repeatedly cited in defense of its drug, was actually written and prepared by GSK, only using the names of “independent” scientists as authors.

     Recently, it has become clear that Amgen and Johnson & Johnson may have been involved in over pricing the use of drugs which have been sold to hospitals for use with cancer patients with anemia problems from chemotherapy. Additionally, the manufacturers and licensees of the right to sell the three anemia drugs pushed their drugs on doctors and hospitals with significant rebates to the purchasers to "encourage" their use of these drugs. The problem is the drugs caused death to many patients who were already sick, vulnerable and wanting solutions. Oh well, not to worry, the US Chamber of Commerce and all the local Chambers believe that consumers are all deserving of death, illness, misfortune at the hands of the rich and powerful because we are a capitalist country. Tort reform will save the drug companies from paying for the deaths they have caused and the families they have harmed under the guise of providing helpful pharmaceuticals. Wake up America, tort reform is all about company profits increasing, not because litigation is bad, wrong or illegal.

• Steven Allen, et al. v. SmithKline Beecham Corp., et al., Case No. PC 045472
• Kathleen DeGregorio, et al. v. SmithKline Beecham Corp., et al., Case No. RIC 526736
• June Gabrielli, et al. v. SmithKline Beecham Corp., et al., Case No. 00123217
• Rhonda King, et al. v. SmithKline Beecham Corp., et al., Case No. BC 413877
• Joseph Panussi, et al. v. SmithKline Beecham Corp., et al., Case No. PC 045435
• Liana Shkhyan, et al. v. SmithKline Beecham Corp., et al., Case No. EC 049987