Following the safety warning issued by the FDA to a rival diabetes drug - Avandia® (rosiglitazone) - Takeda Pharmaceutical will launch a large advertising campaign in the U.S. for its diabetes drug Actos® (pioglitazone).

Both medications belong to the same class of drugs and are indicated for patients with diabetes type 2 - they improve the body's sensitivity to insulin. Actos is the only other marketed medication that works in the same way as Avandia.

Takeda, among other diabetes drug manufacturers, has been asked by the FDA to note in their labels that their diabetes medications have not been proven to lower cardiovascular risk.

Takeda's Actos adverts stress that a major study showed that the drug does not raise heart attack risk or stroke risk in patients.

The said advertising campaign involves local and weekly newspapers throughout the country that will feature full-page adverts, the headline will contain the following text׃

"If you have type 2 diabetes, Actos has been shown to lower blood sugar without increasing your risk of having a heart attack or stroke."

Well, sounds really like trumping Avandia®, isn't it?!

Source: Medical News Today

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