Issue 44 Vol II, July 31, 2007

H E A L T H

Diabetes drugs double heart failure risk

IN America a new study warns diabetic patients that two popular drugs used to treat late-onset diabetes may double the risk of heart failure.

Researchers in Chicago who analysed data on 78,000 patients who took Avandia or Actos to treat type II diabetes found that it increased the risk of heart failure by up to 100 percent.

The manufacturers were cautioning that the drugs were not suitable for patients at risk for - or with a history of - heart failure, and that patients who combined the drugs with insulin treatments were at an increased risk for the complication.

But the analysis found that this adverse effect occurred in patients with no risk for heart failure, even in the absence of insulin. The study also showed that it occurred in young people and at high and low doses. On average, patients who developed this complication did so 24 weeks after starting on the drug.

Sonal Singh, lead author of the study and assistant professor in internal medicine at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center in Winston Salem, North Carolina stated, “Our analysis quantifies the risk for the first time and it shows that nobody is immune.”

According to the journal Diabetes Care the findings raised the question of whether doctors should revert to using older drugs such as Glucophage or insulin injections. The researchers, however, did not evaluate whether the adverse effects were fatal, nor did they study what went wrong. They suggest that the drugs cause some people to retain fluid, which can trigger heart failure, symptoms of which include shortness of breath and inability to exercise.

The US Food and Drug Administration will consult with medical experts on  to see whether the data merits adding so-called “black box warnings” to the drug packaging that would alert consumers to the potential risk.

GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), which has been marketing Avandia in the US since 1999 and in Europe since 2000, downplayed the findings. Takeda Pharmaceutical makes Actos. “The risk of heart failure in diabetes patients and with use of these medicines is well recognised and is clearly identified in prescribing information to doctors. “GSK is confident in the overall safety profile of Rosiglitazone (Avandia) when used appropriately,” a company statement said.

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