Behind the Rosiglitazone Controversy

On 23 September 2010, the US FDA and the EMA issued statements announcing their response to data implicating the use of the antidiabetes drug rosiglitazone (Avandia(®), GlaxoSmithKline plc, London, UK) with an increased risk of cardiovascular events, including acute myocardial infarction and stroke. The EMA has implemented an immediate suspension of the drug, meaning that it will no longer be available in Europe. The FDA stopped short of a total suspension, but has stated that use of the drug should be restricted to patients with Type 2 diabetes who cannot control their diabetes with other medications. In this article, Bernard Cheung of the Expert Review of Clinical Pharmacology Editorial Advisory Board gives his insight into the matter. Cheung graduated from the University of Cambridge (UK) and received a PhD in Clinical Pharmacology in 1995. He then joined the University of Hong Kong as the Lecturer in Clinical Pharmacology and later became Professor. He held the Chair in Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics at the University of Birmingham (UK) in 2007-2009. Cheung's main research interest is in cardiovascular diseases and risk factors, including hypertension and the metabolic syndrome. He works on vasoactive peptides, such as adrenomedullin and urotensin II. He is also interested in clinical trials, meta-analyses, drug utilization and medication safety and is the Chief Editor of the Open Diabetes Journal, and an Executive Editor of the British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology.