Report Faults Bayer On Baycol Withdrawal

New reports accuse another drug company of being too slow to pull a dangerous medication from the market and question the ability of the federal Food and Drug Administration (news - web sites) to protect the public from such risks. This time it's Baycol, a cholesterol-lowering statin that Bayer AG withdrew in 2001 after some who took it developed a severe and sometimes fatal muscle disorder. A new study found that the risks were far greater than had been believed. The study concludes that today's top-selling statins are very safe, but could be risky when taken with other drugs called fibrates by older people with diabetes. It also reveals that fibrates alone can be dangerous. These drugs lower triglycerides and often are taken by diabetics. Six papers on the issue were to be released Monday and will be published Dec. 1 in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Its editors called for a new, independent office separate from the FDA (news - web sites) to monitor drugs after they're on the market.

Back to news