| Rezulin: Fast Track to Failure By
Robert K. Jenner
Originally published in American Association for Justice,
July 2000
The FDA's expedited
review process and a pharmaceutical company's desire for profits
unleashed a dangerous diabetes drug on consumers.
In the mid-1990s, the
FDA came under criticism for its slow review for approving
cancer and AIDS drugs. Responding to that criticism, Congress passed
legislation that permitted the agency to allow a priority review of
certain pharmaceuticals that represent a major advance in medical
treatment.
This accelerated review can
cut the red tape that delays the release of promising new drugs. But
priority review can also lead to disaster, as consumer protection
checkpoints are eliminated.
Certainly, a decision to
approve any drug involves a weighing of relative risks and benefits. The
greater the benefit and the greater the need, the more likely Americans
are to accept a rapid review of a brand-new pharmaceutical. When drugs
offer some benefits but are not truly lifesaving, and safer alternatives
exist that provide a similar therapeutic value, how willing are
Americans to use drugs that are not thoroughly tested? What are we
willing to accept as the "human cost" of permitting a priority review of
drugs?
The story of the diabetes
drug Rezulin, revealed principally through investigative reporting by
the Los Angeles Times,1 gives us insight into the FDA's accelerated
approval process for newly proposed medications. It gives us insight
into the power of one of the world's largest pharmaceutical companies
and the influence that it has over the agency. And, finally, the story
of Rezulin, which can cause serious liver damage, is a tragic reminder
of the devastation that occurs when big business puts profits over the
lives and the well- being of consumers.
Diabetics have a defect in
the body's ability to use insulin as it should to metabolize glucose. In
people afflicted with Type 1, or juvenile-onset, diabetes, the pancreas
fails to produce insulin, the hormone that influences how cells move
sugar from the bloodstream. In Type 2 diabetes, also known as
adult-onset or diabetes mellitus, blood-sugar levels are higher than
normal, but the body still produces insulin. Over time, these patients
develop a resistance to insulin, and they lose their ability to produce
enough insulin to overcome that resistance. It is estimated that there
are 16 million Americans with diabetes, about 90 percent of whom suffer
from the adult-onset form of the disease.2
In January 1997, the FDA
approved troglitazone, traded under the brand name Rezulin. It was
designed for use in patients with Type 2 diabetes whose blood-glucose
levels were not adequately controlled by other therapies alone. Rezulin
was manufactured by Warner-Lambert, Parke-Davis Division, a
multinational corporation headquartered in Morris Plains, New Jersey.
The drug was hailed as the first one to resensitize the body to insulin
and was designed to reduce or eliminate the need for people with Type 2
diabetes to take insulin injections.
Warner-Lambert was
sponsoring studies of Rezulin during a turbulent time in its history. In
1995, Warner-Lambert pleaded guilty to a felony in connection with
concealing quality-control problems in its drug manufacturing from the
FDA and agreed to pay a $10 million fine.3 This was one of the largest
fines ever imposed on a drug manufacturer. The prosecution resulted from
a joint inquiry by the FDA and the Justice Department.
After this episode,
Warner-Lambert was sorely in need of a drug to permit it to rebound in
the financial area and in the world of public opinion. Company officials
vowed to put the prosecution behind them and to recommit to developing a
new, big-selling drug.
"We have placed our
pharmaceutical research dollars squarely behind compounds we firmly
believe capable of producing a large health care dividend," the company
told its shareholders.4
Development of a new drug is
an expensive and time-consuming undertaking. After a drug is first
tested on animals, it can take many years to get it to the point of FDA
approval, provided it is deemed safe and effective.
But Warner-Lambert had no
intention of waiting years to gain federal approval.
As it wrote in its 1996
mission statement, "Every day a new product fails to reach a market
means missed opportunity." Warner-Lambert, fresh off a $10 million fine
and felony conviction, had to move quickly to regain its footing.
Warner-Lambert submitted to
the FDA its new drug application for Rezulin approval on July 31, 1996.
Within a month, because Rezulin was the first in a new class of diabetes
drugs, agency officials agreed to a six-month "priority" review. Dr.
John Gueriguian, a veteran FDA medical officer assigned to evaluate
Rezulin, reviewed the application and recommended on October 9, 1996,
that the agency reject the drug after documenting its possible danger to
the liver.
Parke-Davis complained about
Gueriguian, and senior FDA officials removed him from the review on
November 4, 1996, according to Gueriguian and an agency memo.
With Gueriguian gone, the
FDA approved Rezulin in January 1997, making it the most quickly
endorsed diabetes pill in the agency's 60-year history. The six months
it took to make the decision was less than half the normal approval
time.
The ever-changing warning label
First label change.
When the FDA first approved Rezulin in early 1997, Warner-Lambert made
no recommendation for monitoring liver function. There was only a
precaution that troglitazone should be prescribed with caution in
patients with advanced liver disease.5 Several months after the company
launched Rezulin in March 1997, however, some cases of liver damage
began to be reported.
According to the Public
Citizen Health Research Group, a consumer advocacy organization, by late
October 1997, there were 35 post-marketing reports of liver injury.
These included two cases of liver failureone resulting in a death, one
in a transplant.
On October 28, 1997, the FDA
and Warner-Lambert responded to these statistics by adding a nonboxed
warning to the label about "rare" cases of liver failure and by
recommending that liver tests on patients using the drug be done five
times during the first year of use.6
In addition, the company
sent out a "Dear Healthcare Professional" letter that discussed this
first warning about liver toxicity. The letter advised of "the incidence
of idiosyncratic hepatocellular injury in patients with Type 2
diabetes being treated with Rezulin."7
Glaxo Wellcome was the
distributor for its version of troglitazone (Romozin) in the United
Kingdom. At this timeNovember 1997Glaxo voluntarily withdrew the drug
from the British market following reports of liver toxicity, including a
number of deaths. Glaxo was quoted as saying that the withdrawal was
warranted because "the reports were coming in so fast and the events
were so serious. . . . We have sufficient patient safety concerns to
suspend marketing of the product."8
Within the FDA, Dr. Robert
Misbin, a diabetes specialist who had originally supported the agency's
approval of Rezulin, was now having serious misgivings. He wrote a
report to his supervisors on November 12, 1997, underscoring the
severity of liver injury documented a year earlier during
Warner-Lambert's clinical trials. He recounted a disturbingly high
incidence of hepatitis and jaundice.
According to the Los
Angeles Times, "Misbin wrote that it was reasonable' to estimate
that 2 percent, or 12,350 of the 650,000 patients then using Rezulin,
would experience some degree of liver injury. He estimated that up to
0.4 percent, or 2,000, would suffer liver injury of about 30 times above
normal."9
Second label change.
At the time of the first labeling change, the FDA asked for reports on
additional adverse events associated with Rezulin. By December 1, 1997,
the FDA had received about 150 reports, including three documenting
deaths from liver failure.10
On that date, Warner-Lambert
added a boxed warning to the label, and the frequency of liver tests was
increased to 10 times in the first year of use.
The company also sent
another "Dear Healthcare Professional" letter,11 and the FDA issued a
bulletin recommending that physicians monitor Rezulin patients more
frequently for signs of liver injury. In addition, the agency reported,
warning information about potential liver toxicity would be more
prominently featured in the drug's labeling.12
By this timenine months
after the drug first appeared on the marketRezulin had generated more
than $242 million in sales.13
Then, in May 1998, a seminal
event occurred in the increasingly worrisome Rezulin saga. The National
Institutes of Health (NIH) was cosponsoring a study with Warner-Lambert
to determine whether Rezulin and other diabetic drugs could prevent the
development of diabetes. A volunteer in this study, Audrey LaRue Jones,
a 55-year-old high school teacher from East St. Louis, Illinois,
developed liver failure and died. Jones was one of 585 patients in the
study getting Rezulin.14
Jones's death was of strong
interest to the FDA and other officials in mid-1998 because it showed
that even a patient who was being monitored in an NIH clinical trial
could not be saved from liver failure. Citing concern for the safety of
the remaining patients, NIH officials banished Rezulin from the trial.15
The significance of this
death cannot be overstated: It strengthened the suspicion that Rezulin
could kill or injure acutely, without a slow or steady climb of liver
enzymes, which would permit a physician to stop the drug in time to
prevent injury. Very simply, while liver enzyme monitoring might reduce
the risk of serious liver problems, such monitoring could not eliminate
the risk. This is what the FDA called a "rapid riser," a patient in whom
irreversible acute liver failure developed within about a month.
What made the death of this
volunteer even more disturbing was information that was subsequently
disclosed concerning a top researcher on the project, Dr. Richard
Eastman. Eastman was not only a government researcher, but he was also a
paid consultant for Warner-Lambert and a member of its "Rezulin National
Speakers Bureau," which urged doctors to use the drug. Indeed, Eastman
accepted $78,455 in total compensation from Warner-Lambert and its
affiliates in payment for his consulting services.16
Third labeling change.
On July 28, 1998, in the face of at least 25 deaths from liver failure
and three additional patients requiring a liver transplant, Warner
Lambert increased the recommended frequency for liver testing. To
supplement the label change, the company sent out yet another "Dear
Healthcare Professional" letter advising of the modified requirements.
"These new liver enzyme monitoring modifications are intended to reduce
the risk of rare but serious liver injury, including liver failure
leading to transplant or death," the advisory letter read.17
At about the same time,
Public Citizen petitioned the FDA to withdraw Rezulin in the United
States.18 The organization cited reports of more than 100 patients who
had been hospitalized with liver toxicity and at least 26 deaths from
liver failure. The total number of reports received by the FDA of Rezulin-associated liver toxicity was more than 560 since March 1997,
when the drug was first marketed.
Public Citizen accurately
predicted that the latest warning Warner-Lambert was sending to
physicians and the minor changes in the labeling were "doomed to the
same failure as the previous, similar warning efforts with the drug."
The organization concluded its petition by posing a question: "How many
more Americans will have to die or require liver transplants before
Parke-Davis and the FDA take action to protect people in this country by
banning the drug?"19
FDA review
After a private meeting
between the FDA and Warner-Lambert in March 1999, a company
representative asserted that the agency had reaffirmed its confidence in
Rezulin. FDA officials, however, were stating contrary opinions in
internal e-mail correspondence obtained by the Los Angeles Times.
The newspaper quoted a March
2 e-mail message that was sent by Dr. Saul Malozowski, of the agency's
diabetes drug division, to colleagues:
My
question is: How many fatal cases will suffice to put to rest
[Warner-Lambert's] argument? I believe that one case will be too many. .
. . The number of [liver-]associated deaths with Rezulin . . . is in
excess of anything previously seen with any of the approved [diabetes]
drugs . . . .We know now what has happened with Rezulin, and there is
not a single piece of information to believe that either new or old
patients will not develop severe or fatal complications with it.20
On March 26, 1999, the FDA's
Endocrinologic and Metabolic Drugs Advisory Committee reviewed the most
recent data on the safety of Rezulin. By this date, 1.5 million patients
had been treated with the drug in the United States.21 Of concern to the
FDA was the finding that some patients who took all the precautions set
out by Warner-Lambert still died of severe liver toxicity that arose
just weeks after they had passed a liver test.
The full-day hearing, held
at a Bethesda, Maryland, hotel, was attended by FDA officials,
Parke-Davis representatives, scientists, and other people concerned with
this issue.22
One notable presentation was
by Dr. David Graham, a medical epidemiologist in the FDA's Office of
Postmarketing Drug Risk Assessment, who presented his findings on liver
failure and the risks of troglitazone. He concluded that in 43 cases of
acute liver failure investigated by the agency, 38 were probably caused
by the drug.23 Graham stated: In [Parke-Davis's] briefing document, they
mention a number of potential confounding factors that they believe may
make these cases too complicated to [determine] causality. However, we
believe in our judgment and in the judgment of a three- to four-member
panel of FDA reviewers that in every probable case, troglitazone
appeared to be responsible, and other factors played either no role or
were of a minor contributory nature.24
Other information Graham
presented was equally compelling. He reported that only an estimated 45
percent of Rezulin patients were getting the proper liver testing to
detect problems in time to treat them. Thus, the presentation of these
statistics provided the company with information that physicians were
doing an inadequate job monitoring for the known complications of this
drug.
Graham created a model to
estimate that among people who used Rezulin for six months, as many as
one in 1,800 could have liver failure.25 And he reported that the FDA
believed that it had received reports of only about 10 percent of the
liver damage cases that may have occurred among users because there was
no law requiring doctors to report side effects.26
The panel of scientific
experts recommended that the government place stricter limits on the use
of the drug and urged that patients take it only when other therapies
failed. About 80 percent of all patients who used the drug did so in
combination with other diabetes drugs, and the committee found that when
used that way, the benefits of Rezulin still outweighed the risks.
Accordingly, the committee stopped short of recommending the drug be
withdrawn from the market. Instead, the panel told the FDA that Rezulin
should not be used on its own unless the label was changed to warn
patients that it carried grave risks.27
Notably, in the days
preceding the hearing, the agency appointed two new members to this
advisory panel. Both were members of a private diabetes education group
funded only by Warner-Lambert.
The company's spin, however,
was predictably duplicitous. Warner-Lambert's press release, issued that
day, touted the FDA's reaffirmation of Rezulin for "most" Type 2
diabetes patients. Warner-Lambert hailed the opportunity to "work with
the FDA to further refine the label." Noting that the committee voted
that the benefits of the drug, when used with other medicine, still
outweighed the risks, Dr. Robert Zerbe, the company's research
executive, said, "Patients and physicians can feel confident about the
value of Rezulin."28
Two months later, in May
1999, the FDA approved Avandia, a drug that works the same way as
Rezulin but appeared to have less risk. An agency advisory panel
investigating Avandia and a similar drug, Actos, which was also under
review,29 found that these drugs showed no sign of liver injury during
investigational studies. Avandia and Actos offered new promise for Type
2 diabetics without the risk of liver toxicity posed by Rezulin.
Shortly after,
Warner-Lambert changed Rezulin's labeling for a fourth time. On June 16,
1999, the company sent yet another letter to hundreds of thousands of
health practitioners. For the first time, the company warned that
Rezulin was no longer indicated as initial single-agent therapy (that
is, it should not be taken as patients' only diabetic drug). The company
also modified the liver function monitoring schedule by extending the
period of monthly liver function tests from 10 months to one year, and
then quarterly rather than periodically, as previously recommended.30
Shake-up in the FDA
On January 6, 2000, there
was a staff meeting of specialists at the FDA. One of the attendees was
FDA diabetes specialist Misbin, who in 1997 had recommended priority
approval of Rezulin. Misbin explained that following the January 6
meeting, "there appeared to be broad agreement that continued marketing
of [Rezulin] was not justified." He stated that FDA officials "seriously
entertained" declaring Rezulin an imminent hazard. Misbin wrote in a
January 24 e-mail to his superiors: "I see no reason why any
well-informed physician would continue to prescribe [Rezulin]." Unless
the agency withdrew the drug, Misbin warned, "additional cases of
preventable liver failure" may occur.31
By early March 2000, the
divisiveness within the agency became unusually public. Amid mounting
pressure to remove Rezulin, a growing number of FDA physicians expressed
concern that further delay would claim the lives of diabetics. Their
opinions conflicted with those of top FDA administrators who continued
to endorse the drug.32 What made this public dispute so notable was that
the turmoil came about amid allegations that the company hid early
reports of liver damage.
On March 10, 2000, Dr. Janet
McGill, a St. Louis endocrinologist who assisted in Warner-Lambert's
early clinical testing of Rezulin, claimed publicly that the company
"clearly places profits before the lives of patients with diabetes."33
McGill focused on Warner-Lambert's handling of adverse events in
patients who took Rezulin in two clinical trials. "I believe that the
company . . . deliberately omitted reports of liver toxicity and
misrepresented serious adverse events experienced by patients in their
clinical studies."34
After reviewing McGill's
materials, the FDA's Misbin wrote his own letter to selected members of
Congress, faulting the agency's handling of Rezulin. "In the absence of
the threat of a congressional hearing," he wrote on March 3, "I see
little hope of turning this around until many more patients have
died."35
On March 21, 2000, the FDA
requested that Warner-Lambert withdraw Rezulin from the market.36 The
agency sought the withdrawal within two hours of a meeting that included
agency physicians, lawyers, and other specialists. The company initially
argued with the agency but eventually agreed.37
The FDA said it had
concluded that two other drugsActos and Avandiawere safer treatments for
the millions of Americans with Type 2 diabetes. "Continued use of
Rezulin now poses an unacceptable risk to patients," said Dr. Janet
Woodcock, head of the agency's Center for Drug Evaluation and Research.
"We are now confident that patients have safer alternatives."38
Warner-Lambert said it still thought Rezulin's benefits outweighed the
risks but decided it "is in the best interest of patients to discontinue
marketing Rezulin at this time."39
At the time of its
withdrawal, it was estimated that 500,000 people were on Rezulin. The
drug had then been linked to 90 confirmed reports of liver failures,
including 63 deaths.40 It had generated over $1.8 billion in sales.41
The FDA Endocrinologic and
Metabolic Drugs Advisory Committee met on May 19, 2000, to review its
regulatory decisions with respect to Rezulin. The agency continued to
justify its withdrawal of the drug by stating that Actos and Avandia
were safer and preferable alternatives.
In a head-to-head comparison
of the first nine months that Avandia and Rezulin were on the market,
the FDA reviewed statistics that demonstrated that 16 cases of
Rezulin-associated liver failure were reported, compared with only two
cases of Avandia-associated liver failure. Analyzing this and other data
to compare similar patient populations, the Food and Drug Administration
noted that Rezulin was five times more likely to result in liver failure
than Avandia.42
Repeated failures
On March 22, the Los Angeles
Times reported,
At least three federal
investigations related to Rezulin have been initiated: an inspector
general's inquiry into [Eastman's] acceptance of consulting fees from
Warner-Lambert; an FDA inquiry into [McGill's] allegations that the
company omitted findings of liver toxicity from a 1994 clinical trial;
and an FDA internal-affairs investigation into how certain agency
e-mails came into the possession of The Times.43
Thus, both Warner-Lambert
and the FDA will have to spend much more time explaining their handling
of the Rezulin approval process. And Warner-Lambert will have much
explaining to do in court, as well. As of the time of this writing, over
40 lawsuits have been filed in federal courts and even more in state
courts, as well as three multidistrict litigation petitions and numerous
state class actions. Coordination of efforts among plaintiff attorneys
will inevitably lead to more efficient and more streamlined litigation.
It is estimated that each
year, 100,000 Americans die of adverse drug reactions and 1.5 million
are hospitalized. With the pharmaceutical industry reporting over $100
billion in annual sales, the responsibility for oversight lies with the
FDA.
Changes needed
As demonstrated by the
ill-fated Rezulin approval process, significant changes need to be made.
Drug approvals should be made on a priority basis only when there is a
compelling need for a lifesaving drug.
The agency should be
immediately suspicious of complaints by pharmaceutical companies about
any FDA officialespecially one who is critical of a new drug.
Post-marketing surveillance of approved drugs needs to be stepped up,
and reports of adverse reactions must be scrupulously heeded by the FDA
and the pharmaceutical companies.
Both the agency and drug
companies need to continue to impress on physicians and pharmacists the
importance of reporting adverse events. While educational campaigns in
the form of "Dear Doctor" letters are important and necessary, critical
safety messages must also be set forth repeatedly in the media to
increase the probability that consumers of drugs will receive important
information. Patients also need to be attuned to the drugs they are
using and ask questions about risks, benefits, and alternatives. Only
when a comprehensive effort is made by the FDA, pharmaceutical
companies, and the consuming public can we expect improved safety of
products from the drug industry.
Notes
- In June 1999, Los Angeles Times
reporter David Willman won the National Press Club's consumer journalism
award for his series of articles on Rezulin. Willman's work on Rezulin
prompted the FDA to reassess the drug's safety.
- Food and Drug Admin., Talk Paper, FDA
Approves Rezulin for Diabetes Patients Poorly Controlled on Insulin
Therapy (Jan. 30, 1997).
- David Willman, Drug Maker Hired NIH
Researcher, L.A. TIMES, Dec. 7, 1998, at A-1.
- Id.
- Troglitazone (Rezulin) Professional
Product Labeling, in PHYSICIANS' DESK REFERENCE 2118 (52d ed. 1998).
Notably, in an August 4, 1997, press release, Warner-Lambert reported
that "adverse reactions to Rezulin therapy are comparable to placebo,"
noting that the most prevalent adverse events included infection,
headache, and pain.
- Public Citizen Petition, Letter to
Michael Friedman, M.D., Lead Deputy Commissioner, Food and Drug
Administration, from Sidney M. Wolfe, M.D., Director, Public Citizen's
Health Research Group (July 27, 1998).
- Letter from William R. Sigmund II,
M.D., Vice President, Medical and Scientific Affairs, Parke-Davis, to
Health Care Professionals (Oct. 28, 1997) (emphasis added).
- Troglitazone Suspended in U.K. After
More Adverse Events, SCRIP, Dec. 5, 1997, at 15. The suspension
triggered an 18.5 percent plunge in Warner-Lambert's
stock on the New York Stock Exchange.
- David Willman, "Fast Track" Drug to
Treat Diabetes Tied to 33 Deaths, L.A. TIMES, Dec. 6, 1998, at A-1.
- Food and Drug Admin.,Talk Paper,
Patient Testing and Labeling Strengthened for Rezulin (Dec. 1, 1997)
[hereafter FDA Talk Paper].
- Letter from William R. Sigmund II,
M.D., Vice President, Medical and Scientific Affairs, Parke-Davis, to
Health Care Professionals (Dec. 1, 1997).
- FDA Talk Paper, supra note 10.
- Glaxo Halts British Sales of Diabetes
Drug, L.A. TIMES, Dec. 2, 1997, at D-3.
- National Inst. of Diabetes and
Digestive and Kidney Diseases, News Brief, NIDDK Discontinues
Troglitazone Arm of "Diabetes Prevention Program" Clinical Trial (June
4, 1998).
- David Willman, Officials Faulted for
Not Following Rules in Rezulin Case, L.A. TIMES, Mar. 21, 2000.
- Willman, supra note 3; David Willman,
Two New FDA Panelists Have Ties to Rezulin Maker, L.A. TIMES, Mar. 25,
1999, at A-1.
- Letter from William R. Sigmund II,
M.D., Vice President, Medical and Scientific Affairs, Parke-Davis, to
Health Care Professionals (July 28, 1998).
- The petition was filed pursuant to 21 C.F.R. 10.30 to initiate action to ban troglitazone as authorized by 21
U.S.C. 355(e) of the federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act.
- Public Citizen Petition, supra note
6.
- David Willman, Fears Grow over Delay
in Removing Rezulin, L.A. TIMES, Mar. 10, 2000.
- Warner-Lambert Co., New Facts About Rezulin, Mar. 26, 1999 (press release).
- The 470-page transcript of the
meeting is available on the Internet at http://www.fda.gov/ohrms/
dockets/ac/99/transcpt/3499t1.rtf.
- FOOD AND DRUG ADMIN., CTR. FOR DRUG
EVALUATION AND RESEARCH, ENDOCRINOLOGIC AND METABOLIC DRUGS ADVISORY
COMM., MEETING NO. 72, Bethesda, Maryland (Mar. 26, 1999), at 107.
- Id. at 107-08.
- Id. at 120.
- Id. at 155.
- David Willman, FDA Advised to
Restrict Rezulin Use for Diabetes, L.A. TIMES, Mar. 27, 1999, at A-1. At
the conclusion of the meeting, Dr. Janet Woodcock, head of the FDA's
Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, indicated in an interview that
she did not share Graham's concerns. David Willman, Diabetes Drug
Rezulin Pulled Off the Market, L.A. TIMES, Mar. 22, 2000.
- Warner-Lambert Co., Warner-Lambert
Pleased by FDA Advisory Committee Recommendation on Rezulin, Mar. 26,
1999 (press release).
- The FDA approved Actos (pioglitazone)
for monotherapy for patients with Type 2 diabetes on July 16, 1999.
- Letter from William R. Sigmund II,
M.D., Vice President, Medical and Scientific Affairs, Parke-Davis, to
Health Care Professionals (June 16, 1999).
- David Willman, Key Physician Urges
Rezulin Be Withdrawn, L.A. TIMES, Feb. 19, 2000.
- Willman, supra note 20.
- Id.
- Letter from Janet B. McGill to Sen.
Edward M. Kennedy, as reported in Willman, supra note 31.
- Willman, supra note 20.
- Dep't of Health & Human Servs.,
Rezulin to Be Withdrawn from the Market, Mar. 21, 2000 (press release).
- Chris Adams & Gabriella Stern,
Warner-Lambert to Remove Rezulin from Market Following FDA Reviews, WALL
ST. J., Mar. 22, 2000, at A3.
- Lisa Richwine, Warner-Lambert
Withdraws Diabetes Pill Rezulin, Reuters, Mar. 21, 2000.
- Warner-Lambert Co., Warner-Lambert
Voluntarily Withdraws Rezulin, Mar. 21, 2000 (press release).
- Murray M. Lumpkin, Deputy Center
Director, Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, Food and Drug Admin., Troglitazone: Presentation to Advisory Committee (May 19, 2000),
http://www.fda.gov/ ohrms/dockets/ac/00/slides/3615s1.aspx.
- Marc Kaufman, Controversial Diabetes
Drug Is Withdrawn, WASH. POST, Mar. 22, 2000, at A1.
- Lumpkin, supra note 40.
- David William, Diabetes Drug Rezulin
Pulled off the Market, LA Times, Mar 22,2000
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