Drug maker defends diabetes treatment

GlaxoSmithKline, the manufacturers of controversial diabetes drug Avandia, have gone on record saying that it is a ‘highly effective’ treatment for type 2 diabetes. The drug is highly popular, with around a million patients taking it in the USA .
In response to an online study published by the New England Journal of Medicine on Tuesday, Glaxo have quickly countered. The NEJM paper is based on meta-analysis, and Glaxo argue that this data is both complex and conflicting. Glaxo claimed that the findings are down to chance, and that the research is fragile.
In fairness to the pharmaceutical company, they have conducted several large scale, long-term clinical trials into the effectiveness of Avandia on diabetics . These include the ADOPT, DREAM and RECORD studies. GSK say that Avandia, proven by all results, has a similar cardiovascular profile to other oral anti- diabetic medicines .