PPH can be serious side effect of Avandia

Americans with diabetes could be at risk for primary pulmonary hypertension (PPH), said to be a serious side effect of Avandia, a top diabetic drug used to treat the Type-2 form of the disease, according to some concerned scientists and medical experts. Twenty million Americans have diabetes, and the number is growing by 6% a year. Reports about Avandia's serious side effects are a shocker. PPH is a rare condition, considered to be a precursor of congestive heart failure, a fatal ailment. PPH causes small blood vessels that supply blood to the lungs to tighten up. The heart pumps harder as it becomes more difficult to push blood into the lungs, eventually causing it to stiffen and enlarge.

Avandia has been on the market since 1999. Questions about its effect on the heart and other ills it might cause first surfaced in 2000. Doctors at the well-respected Cleveland Clinic expressed serious concerns about the drug in May 2007. This past fall, the Food and Drug Administration asked GlaxoSmithKline, the drug’s manufacturer to add a black box warning, the federal government’s highest alert, to prescriptions for the drug, amid continuing reports that it adversely impacts the heart.

Government ordered study underway

The FDA has also asked GSK to study the drug to determine if it does cause PPH and a host of other potentially fatal conditions related to heart failure - angina, fluid retention, shortness of breath and coronary artery blockage. That study will not be complete until 2014. In the interim, The FDA did not remove the drug from the market, citing conflicting reports about its effect on the heart that the study will address. Meanwhile, FDA scientist David Graham expressed concern that the FDA warning should carry information about other drugs for Type-2 diabetes that “work as well…but do not have this cloud hanging over them.”

If you or a loved one has been harmed by using Avandia, contact a personal injury lawyer with Jim S. Adler & Associates today. The law firm offers a free case review and can help you start your road to financial recovery.

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