Increased physican concern over Rxing Avandia

The percentage of primary care physicians and endocrinologists who consider the cardiovascular safety of UK drug major GlaxoSmithKline\'s Avandia (rosiglitazone) to be a major concern increased more than nine-fold following the publication of a meta-analysis (Marketletters passim), according to a new study conducted in the USA by health care advisory firm Decision Resources.

Published in May 2007 by Steve Nissen in the New England Journal of Medicine, the meta-analysis called into question the cardiovascular safety of Avandia and featured analysis of data from several different trials showing the drug increases the risk of myocardial infarction 43%. Prescriptions for Avandia dropped significantly in the weeks following. Indeed, in its first-quarter 2008 results, GSK noted that sales of the drug had slumped 56% year-on-year to just L191.0 million ($378.5 million, and plunged 66% in the USA (Marketletter April 28).

According to the new Physician and Payer Forum report entitled Avandia One Year Later-A Physician and Payer Perspective, the full impact of the meta-analysis on Avandia prescribing has not yet been felt. 58% of US PCPs and 52% of endocrinologists say they will reduce their prescribing of Avandia over the next year.