Avandia Risks Hidden For Years

With The FDA looking closely at Glaxo SmithKline large news outlets including the New York Times are now reporting that the drug maker not only knew that Avnadia was no more effective than other drugs, but it posed a significant heart attack risk to patients. Glaxo then began a years long campaign in order to hide its own unfavorable research data. According to the New York Times report "instead of publishing the results, the company spent the next 11 years trying to cover them up, according to documents recently obtained by The New York Times."

Unwary Doctors Prescribe drugs such as Avandia while the drug maker hides data from the public including doctors. However in 2007 the FDA was aware of the danger of prescribing Avandia and it issued the following statement ."The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is aware of a potential safety issue related to Avandi (rosiglitazone), a drug approved to treat type 2 diabetes. Safety data from controlled clinical trials have shown that there is a potentially significant increase in the risk of heart attack and heart-related deaths in patients taking Avandia."

It Is Clear  that the medical profession was on notice of the life threatening defects associated with Avandia use. If you or a loved one was injured by this drug please get legal represenatation. It is clear that the danger of taking Avandia far outweighed any potential benefits of using the drug and the drug maker was aware of that fact for years.

J&J Begins Diclosing Payments to Doctors

One of the oldest companies in America Johnson & Johnson pharmaceuticals promised to begin disclosing cash payments it has made to doctors. The Wall Street Journal has reported that the drug maker is posting data on "on several company websites" the article points out that accessing the data is a laborioous task.

The J&J Ortho-McNeil-Janssen unit, which markets antipsychotic Risperdal, pain drug Duragesic and Concerta for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD has released a report listing payments  many doctors listed received several thousand dollars each from J&J. Considering the potential severe side effects of a drug such as Risperdal the idea that the drug maker can pay doctors who also happen to prescribe its drugs is rather alarming. The truth is many drug makers have begun disclosing similar data lately. OIften times disclosure is mandated by the courts as part of a settelement.