Although a Food & Drug Administration advisory panel voted overwhelmingly to keep GlaxoSmithKline's diabetes treatment Avandia on the U.S. market, despite data that suggests it may raise the risk of
heart attack, the marketer faces a stiff battle to regain market share if the FDA follows the recommendation. The question remains whether doctors will continue to prescribe the drug, and whether
patients will still want to take it.
The controversy surrounding Avandia--the world's best-selling oral medicine for the treatment of type 2 diabetes with 2006 sales of $3.4
billion--began in May. An article in The New England Journal of Medicine linked it to a 43% increased risk of heart attack.
A number of experts have found fault with the
NEJM study and called on the FDA to keep the drug on the market. But many analysts believe the damage to Avandia's reputation has already been done. Since May, sales of Avandia have plummeted
by 22% as doctors turned to similar drugs. The expectation is that if GSK is to claw back the market share it has lost, it will have to embark on an aggressive educational campaign for both patients
and doctors.
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