Oh goodness.
A new diabetes pill that was moving towards government approval has been linked to deaths, heart attacks and strokes, researchers reported today in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Kudos to the leading heart researchers from Cleveland researchers, who acted quickly to alert Americans to the fact that diabetic participants taking the new drug, Pargluva, had twice as many deaths and cardiovascular problems as those on dummy pills or a competing drug.
“This is the Vioxx that isn’t going to happen,” said Dr. Steven Nissen, who worked on the analysis with Dr. Eric Topol and a clinic statistician.
Of course, Dr. Nissen was referring to the popular painkiller that Merck had to pull from the market last year after it was linked with serious heart problems.
If the analysis is correct, this new drug could have caused a “public health catastrophe” given that 18 million Americans have diabetes, Dr. Nissen told the Associated Press.
The drug was developed by Bristol-Myers Squibb and Merck & Co. and it was endorsed by a Food and Drug Administration panel last month.
Talk about scary!
This latest incident just highlights the fact that the approval process for drugs is fraught with problems.
I’m always so baffled why people feel compelled, if not obliged, to find drugs to “cure” their ailments. Indeed, one of the best “treatments” for type 2 diabetes is to start eating better (get rid of those quickie carbs and sweets) and exercise often.