Avandia: Diabetes Drug May Cause Heart Problems

A month after a study found a possible link between heart attacks and GlaxoSmithKline's diabetes drug Avandia, the number of reported side effects tripled. Dr. Ronald Goldberg from the University of Miami Diabetes Research Institute says that diabetes patients are excited to switch medications. Goldberg says that when he explains the risks possibly associated with Avandia to patients, they "tend to feel more comfortable going off to a different medicine, a different oral medicine."

At Baptist Medical Arts pharmacy, the pharmacists say that they have seen about a 50 percent decline in the number of Avandia prescriptions. Goldberg, however, says that he only is insistent that patients switch drugs in a few cases: "The only situation where I'm a little bit more insistent that they change is if they have cardiovascular disease," he said. "That might be the group where it's most prudent to insist on a change until we know more."