Diabetes Drug Pulled Off the Market

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), on March 22, 2000 pulled the diabetes drug Rezulin off the market. The drug had been used by more than 700,000 patients and been responsible for more than 61 deaths. Dr. Sidney Wolfe, a critic of the FDA for being too slow, said the drug should have been taken off the market long ago. He characterized the drug as, "one of the most dangerous drugs." The problem with the drug was toxicity to the liver. In an interesting response, Warner Lambert, the maker of Rezulin, has voluntarily agreed to stop selling the drug, but they did comment that they felt the benefits of the drug outweighed the risks. I am sure that is of little consolation to the families of the 61 people who died.