Dems pledge Avandia investigation

WASHINGTON, May 21 (UPI) -- Two House Democrats have pledged to investigate GlaxoSmithKline and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration over the diabetes drug Avandia.

A Cleveland Clinic study released Monday by the New England Journal of Medicine found that found the drug increases diabetics' chances of heart attack, stroke and death by 40 percent.

In the wake of the study, Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich., chairman of the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and Rep. Bart Stupack, D-Mich., chairman of the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, said they would launch an inquiry into what they called the failure of the manufacturer and the FDA to warn diabetics about possible risks associated with the drug.

"We learned from an FDA briefing that the agency has known about this problem for at least eight months and perhaps even longer," Dingell said. "What we don't know is why diabetics and their doctors haven't been notified of the substantial risk to the heart from a drug prescribed to protect the cardiovascular system."

The congressmen are part of a bipartisan group that wrote letters to the FDA expressing concern over Avandia earlier this year.

GlaxoSmithKline has criticized the study as methodologically flawed.