The Upcoming
  • Culture
    • Art
    • Cinema
      • Movie reviews
      • Film festivals
    • Food & Drinks
      • News & Features
      • Restaurant & bar reviews
      • Interviews & Recipes
    • Literature
    • Music
      • Live music
    • Theatre
    • Shows & On demand
  • Fashion & Lifestyle
    • Accessories
    • Beauty
    • News & Features
    • Shopping & Trends
    • Tips & How-tos
    • Fashion weeks
  • What’s On
    • Art exhibitions
    • Theatre shows
  • Tickets
  • Join us
    • Editorial unit
    • Our writers
    • Join the team
    • Join the mailing list
    • Support us
    • Contact us
  • Interviews
  • Competitions
  • Special events
    • Film festivals
      • Berlin
      • Tribeca
      • Sundance London
      • Cannes
      • Locarno
      • Venice
      • London
      • Toronto
    • Fashion weeks
      • London Fashion Week
      • New York Fashion Week
      • Milan Fashion Week
      • Paris Fashion Week
      • Haute Couture
      • London Fashion Week Men’s
  • Facebook

  • Twitter

  • Instagram

  • YouTube

  • RSS

What is Avandia and why are GSK facing legal claims for its damaging effects?

What is Avandia and why are GSK facing legal claims for its damaging effects?
29 May 2013
The editorial unit
Avatar
The editorial unit
29 May 2013

Pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline has been the source of heightened media attention in recent times after making payments in the US amounting to $3bn for withholding data on the diabetes drug Avandia.

In 2007, following clinical trials involving 28,000 patients, a strong link was forged between Avandia and heart attacks.  This evidence was supplemented in 2010 when Avandia users were predicted to be 27% more inclined to have a stroke; 25% increased chance of heart failure; and 14% more likely premature death. The US Food and Drug Administration estimates Avandia may potentially have been responsible for 100,000 heart attacks.

Avandia (the trade name for Rosiglitazone) was widely available in the UK between 2000 and 2010, the year that the European Drug Regulator ordered it to be taken from the shelves.  It was also available as Avandamet – a mix of Rosiglitazone and Metformin.

GSK have settled 20,000 lawsuits in the US but seem reluctant to offer the same terms to UK citizens with the pharmaceutical giant seemingly ready to fight their case in the courts. Recently covered in the Guardian, Express Solicitors is hoping that the publicity fallout from the US scandal will encourage former UK users to pursue their cases.

There is a clear legal disparity between the US and the UK – possibly due to things like governing bodies and legal procedures – but UK citizen should have the same rights as their US counterparts; a view supported by Express Solicitors who hope some of Avandia’s 90,000 UK users may come forward.  There were one million UK prescriptions of Avandia in 2009 alone; the year previous to the drugs withdrawal.  A leading pharmacologist suggests that Avandia could have been responsible for 1,000 heart attacks and 600 cases of heart failure each year in the UK.

Express Solicitors will fight each case on a “no win, no fee” basis, which is essential as legal aid is set to be withdrawn for medical negligence in the UK.  The drug trade is a $600bn industry where rigour and the controlled distribution of information is a right that must be pursued.

The editorial unit

Related Items

More in Uncategorised

Identifying Features

★★★★★
Sean Gallen
Read More

23 Walks

★★★★★
Andrew Murray
Read More

Live Lab at The Yard Theatre: An interview with associate director Cheryl Gallagher

Mersa Auda
Read More

We Still Fax at ANTS Theatre Online

★★★★★
Samuel Nicholls
Read More

We Ask These Questions of Everybody: An interview with Amble Skuse and Toria Banks

Mersa Auda
Read More

Hello Cosmos – Dream Harder

★★★★★
Jessica Wall
Read More

Public Domain at Southwark Playhouse

★★★★★
Michael Higgs
Read More

Start the year right with these eco-friendly vegan and vegetarian food deliveries

The editorial unit
Read More

The unforgettable icons of horse racing

The editorial unit
Read More
Scroll for more
Tap
  • Popular

  • Latest

  • TOP PICKS

  • Female filmmakers lead nominees for the London Critics’ Circle Film Awards
    Cinema
  • An interview with Ifrah Ismael: Tales from the Front Line and other stories
    Theatre
  • Jeremiah Fraites – Piano Piano
    ★★★★★
    Album review
  • Persian Lessons
    ★★★★★
    Cinema
  • Lonely the Brave – The Hope List
    ★★★★★
    Album review
  • Identifying Features
    ★★★★★
    Cinema
  • 23 Walks
    ★★★★★
    Cinema
  • Live Lab at The Yard Theatre: An interview with associate director Cheryl Gallagher
    Theatre
  • We Still Fax at ANTS Theatre Online
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
  • We Ask These Questions of Everybody: An interview with Amble Skuse and Toria Banks
    Theatre
  • Identifying Features
    ★★★★★
    Cinema
  • We Still Fax at ANTS Theatre Online
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
  • WandaVision: Marvel’s charming sitcom proves an astounding success
    ★★★★★
    Cinema
  • The Queen’s Gambit: A chess story that’s not about the moves but the motives
    ★★★★★
    Cinema
  • Undercover at Morpheus Show Online
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
The Upcoming
Pages
  • Contact us
  • Join mailing list
  • Join us
  • Our London food map
  • Our writers
  • Support us
  • What, when, why

Copyright © 2011-2020 FL Media

Osborne promises Whitehall cuts in lieu of tax hikes or benefit cuts
Cosmetic surgery procedures increasing in Britain and globally