Reaction to Avandia Warnings Stronger Among Internists than Endocrinologists
Since the May 2007 release of a New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) report that Avandia users are 43 percent more likely to suffer a heart attack and 67 percent more likely to die of cardiovascular causes than non-users of Avandia, it is no surprise that physicians intend to switch many type 2 diabetes patients from Avandia to therapies believed to pose less risk. Research from GfK Market Measures results on Avandia's increased CV risk, suggests a greater negative response by internists than endocrinologists. The GfK Market Measures study showed universal awareness of the NEJM report, though not all physicians recalled the exact percentages. The internists, however, demonstrated the strongest negative impact to the findings signaling they will "switch more than half their patients currently on Avandia to another therapy," according to Anna Marie Napolitano, Vice President and Leader of GfK Market Measures' Cardiology Practice. "This sharply contrasts with general/family practitioners and endocrinologists who expect to switch less than half of their patients." Forty percent of internists also indicated a high likelihood they will take all of their Avandia, Avandamet and Avandaryl patients off each respective drug, even though the FDA has not required it, in contrast to a smaller percentage of endocrinologists. Internists are also more likely than the endocrinologists to indicate a reluctance to prescribe any product containing Avandia.
