
The retrospective case-control study, published in the December 12, 2007 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, was conducted in older patients with diabetes and showed that thiazolidinedione (TZD) treatment, primarily with rosiglitazone, was associated with an increased risk of congestive heart failure (CHF), myocardial infarction (MI), and mortality when compared with other combination oral hypoglycemic agent treatments.
The study has reignited the arguments surrounding the safety of rosiglitazone, with Dr Steven Nissen (Cleveland Clinic) issuing new calls for more forceful action on the drug from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), while GlaxoSmithKline highlights limitations of the new study and continues to defend the cardiovascular profile of its product.