Glimepiride/Pioglitazone Hydrochloride

The European Medicines Agency will decide the fate of the type 2 diabetes treatment pioglitazone later in July, after the release of new data indicating that long term use is associated with a slightly raised risk of bladder cancer. New warnings have been issued in the United States, while French authorities have suspended use of drugs containing pioglitazone, which is sold under brand names including Actos, Glustin, Competact, Glubrava, and Tandemact. Marketed for more than a decade, pioglitazone had total sales last year of almost £3bn (€3.4bn; $4.8bn) and is an important earner for the Japanese company Takeda. A competitor drug, rosiglitazone (sold as Avandia), was withdrawn from the European market last year after evidence …

Treatment with thiazolidinediones (glitazones) for type 2 diabetes has been found to increase the risk of fractures in women. Pioglitazone has now joined rosiglitazone, as the subject of a US Food and Drug Administration alert for fracture risk. Takeda, the makers of pioglitazone (contained in Actos, Actosplusmet, and Duetact), and GlaxoSmithKline, the makers of rosiglitazone (contained in Avandia and Avandamet), have contacted US healthcare professionals setting out the evidence on fracture risk and recommending that they consider this risk when starting or treating women with type 2 diabetes with these agents. The statement on pioglitazone …