Does Avandia Cause Heart Attacks?
Whatever the findings of the DREAM follow up study might have been about the effectiveness of Avandia in preventing diabetes, they were drowned out by the really bad news that emerged over the next year from the same study. The DREAM study had been funded by the manufacturer, Glaxo-Smith-Wellcome, which hoped to prove that Avandia would prevent heart disease. But when researchers analyzed the DREAM data along with data from other studies, they found just the opposite. According to a report published in the New England Journal of Medicine in May, 2007, The DREAM study found this: Patients taking Avandia had 66 percent more heart attacks, 39 percent more strokes and 20 percent more deaths from cardiovascular-related problems. (Quoted from the New York Times report on the study published 5/21/07). Effect of Rosiglitazone on the Risk of Myocardial Infarction and Death from Cardiovascular Causes. Steven E. Nissen and Kathy Wolski, NEJM10.1056/NEJMoa072761 As the story unfolded, Glaxo-Smith-
