Docs shunning Avandia in wake of safety study

In another blow to GlaxoSmithKline, researchers say that Avandia's share of the market for newly prescribed oral anti-diabetics dropped from 10 percent to 0 percent in the two days after an NEJM study highlighting the drug's previously undisclosed safety risks [1]. Most of those prescribers have evidently been shifting to Takeda's Actos [2], which saw an immediate surge in use. Shares of Glaxo took another hit on the news this morning. The swift market retribution took the analysts by surprise.

"This reaction is far worse than we had anticipated and suggests that there could be as much as 22 percent downside risk to GSK's near-term earnings, suggesting that there is still further downside to GSK's share price," according to analysis from Deutsche Bank.

- read the AP report [3] on Avandia's numbers

ALSO: A new study by Northwest University's Charles Bennett, M.D., found that his group--RADAR--identified serious drug reactions six years earlier than the FDA and drug companies. Report [4]

Related Articles:
Diabetes expert issued harsh Avandia critique in 2000. Report [5]
Avandia risks exposed under deal to post data. Report [1]