Did FDA, Glaxo Try to Silence Critics?
After a Food and Drug Administration scientist pushed for an early safety warning on the diabetes drug Avandia, she was taken off the project, the New York Times reported. Sen. Charles Grassley (R-IA) has launched an investigation into the FDAs alleged effort to squelch Rosemary Johann-Lianns concern that Avandia increased cardiovascular risk in diabetes patients. Meanwhile, John B. Buse, the next head of the American Diabetes Association, told the House Government Reform committee last week that GlaxoSmithKline, Avandias maker, threatened to hold him personally liable for the companys sharp stock price drop when he first raised concerns in 1999 about Avandias potential to cause heart attacks. Most newspaper accounts of Buses charge, including this one in the Washington Post, failed to note that Buse in recent years has received funding from numerous pharmaceutical companies that compete with Glaxo. EPA Officials Fly Free on Industry Nickel A new study from the Center for Public Integr
