Glaxo Gets Googled, Avandia Data Pops Up - WSJ Health Blog

Glaxo Gets Googled, Avandia Data Pops Up - WSJ Health Blog: "Three years ago, GlaxoSmithKline created an online registry to publish basic information about all of its clinical trials. The company had been criticized for publishing favorable results for its antidepressant Paxil, while burying negative data on the drug. Glaxo agreed to start the registry so that doctors and the public could keep tabs on all studies, as part of a legal settlement. One of the doctors who tapped the Glaxo database was Steven Nissen, a Cleveland Clinic cardiologist. The Glaxo registry turned out to be a key source of information for his New England Journal of Medicine paper that suggested Glaxo’s diabetes blockbuster Avandia increases the risk of heart attacks. Glaxo defended the drug and questioned his findings, but the study sent the company’s stock plunging, prompted the FDA to issue a safety alert and led federal lawmakers to call for a hearing."