GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) thinks that it is being beat up on in the press. And now Congress is looking into whether the FDA has been aggressive enough in warning consumers about the risks of drugs like GSK’s Avandia which some studies show can cause heart problems. The FDA is considering having the company put a warning label on the drug.
But, no amount of research can convince the management at the big drug firm that the diabetes drug is not being unfairly smeared by the press. The company’s CEO was quoted in the FT saying that The New England Journal of Medicine, which has published a paper about the dangers of Avandia is “mixing science with politics” .Despite the medical community’s assertion otherwise, GSK researchers claim that the drug is just as safe as comparable medicines.
GSK seems to be doing a great deal to make the studies attacking the drug appear to be the work of mad dogs and Englishmen. But, the overwhelming evidence would appear to say that Avandia does carry increased risk.
The only question now is what the legal risk may be for GSK.
Douglas A. McIntyre can be reached at [email protected]. He does not own securities in companies that he writes about.
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