Avandia - Medical Malpractice Lawyers

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Avandia - Medical Malpractice

Avandia is a drug generally used for diabetes. The generic name is rosiglitazone. It increases the body's ability to be sensitive to insulin, which means that it can only be used in type II diabetes, which is also known as insulin-resistant diabetes. Type I diabetes doesn't do well with Avandia because it can't make insulin in the first place. Avandia cannot be taken with nitrate drugs.

Avandia is dissimilar to the typical sulfonurea drugs used in diabetes type II, nor is it related to the biguanide class of medications or to the alpha-glucosidase inhibitors. It is a drug that is taken along with a healthy diet and moderate exercise so that the glucose meter receives better glucose numbers. It has been in use on the market for several years.

The manufactured recommended dose is 4 milligrams per day, taken either singly or twice per day. If there is no response after 8-12 weeks, the doctor recommends that you increase the daily dose to 8 milligrams per day, taken with or without food and taken with or without metformin or a sulfonurea drug. The maximum recommended dosage of Avandia is 8 milligrams daily.

One of the advantages of Avandia is that you can take it if you have poor kidney function. This isn't true of metformin or other diabetic medication. If you have liver problems, you need to have periodic liver function studies done before and after taking the medication. Avandia is not recommended for children or for those with liver disease or elevated liver function studies.

Initially, about 9900 patients were treated with Avandia in the clinical trials. Short term side effects include headache, upper respiratory symptoms, injury, back pain, sinus problems, high blood pressure, low blood pressure, fatigue or diarrhoea. If the drug was taken alone or taken in split doses, the side effect profile didn't seem to make a difference. Some people had low red blood cell counts (anaemia) or peripheral oedema but this was extremely rare. The oedema or swelling was noted in about five percent of patients who took Avandia and was higher (12.4 percent) in those who took the higher dose of Avandia. Heart failure has been show in patients who take Avandia at a rate of 2 percent in the 4 mg dosage range and at a rate of 3 percent in the 8 milligram dosage range. Very few people got a low blood sugar situation when mixed with sulfonurea medications. With less sulfonurea dosage, the incidence of low blood sugar improved.

Those who took Avandia for at least 4 to 6 years had fractures in women from bone loss that is a bit different from osteoporosis. The rate was up to 9.3 percent. It shouldn't be taken in women with osteoporosis. Most of the fractures occurred in the arms, hand and foot. This wasn't a phenomenon that was seen in men. Other side effects included low back pain, arthralgias, upper respiratory symptoms, low blood sugar, diarrhoea and high blood pressure.

Children who took Avandia in one study had a higher rate of nasopharyngitis, nausea, vomiting, headache and diarrhoea. Some kids got ketonuria and one kid got a markedly high level of blood sugar in their system.

A black box warning was placed by the US FDA regarding Avandia. The black box warning indicated that the drug increased the risk of heart attack and other heart injury. One study showed an increase of heart attack by 43 percent-a factor that was not seen on the initial studies. There have been law suits related to the taking of Avandia on the part of patients who suffered from heart attack or heart damage as a result of taking Avandia.

The author of the substantive medical writing on this website is Dr. Christine Traxler MD whose biography can be read here