FDA Reviewing HIV Drugs For Heart Attack Risk

Boston (dbTechno) - The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has come out and stated that they will be reviewing two HIV drugs, Ziagen and Videx. The drugs are manufactured by GlaxoSmithKilne and Bristol. They are being reviewed due to links that they carry an increased heart attack risk.

The two HIV drugs in question are Ziagen from GlaxoSmithKline, and Videx from Bristol.

The FDA has come out and stated that patients who took either Ziagen or Videx has a greater risk of heart attack compared to patients who took other medications.

They stated though that the effect was not seen six months after the drugs were no longer taken.

The FDA put a notice on their Web site stating until this evaluation is complete, health-care providers should evaluate the potential risks and benefits for each drug.

A study of 33,000 patients taking the drugs revealed the increased heart attack risk. The study was done to determine the short and long-term risk of taking the drugs.

It is likely that once the evaluation is complete, the labels on Ziagen and Videx will change to show these new risks.

GlaxoSmithKline and Bristol have both some out and stated that they have found no increased heart attack risk in their own data on the drugs.