Diabetes drug can raise heart disease risk by 25 percent

(Source: Indo Asian News Service, 18 March 2011)
Diabetes drug Avandia, which has been used by at least 50,000 people in Britain, increases the risk of heart disease by 23 percent and the risk of death by 14 percent. A study of 810,000 people found that those taking Avandia were 23 percent more likely to suffer congestive heart failure and 14 percent more likely to die, compared to a similar medication.

In addition, they were 16 percent more likely to have a heart attack, the British Medical Journal reports. Last September, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) suspended the licence for the drug after 10 years on the market, saying the evidence of its harmful effects had tipped the balance against it being prescribed, according to the Telegraph. Read more