MEDICINE SHOULDN’T BE CONSIDERED A GOOD BUSINESS

Abstract

Pharmaceutical industry is an important piece in diabetes care as long as it doesn’t have as its main purpose only to be a very profitable industry. When this happens, the risks are high for patients, but also for those who produce some drugs which, after 10 years of clinical use, must be withdrawn from the market due to serious adverse effects.

The Glitazones (Thiazolidinediones, TZDs) class started with troglitazone, a drug which was rapidly withdrawn from clinical use due to its frequent side effect of severe liver damage. The next two members of this class, rosiglitazone and pioglitazone have been approved in 1999 for the treatment of hyperglycemia in type 2 diabetes (T2DM).