Glaxo Gets Some Good News

They analyzed medical records of veterans who had diabetes and heart failure and who were treated in ambulatory clinics at the VA. They followed 818 TZD patients and 4,700 other patients for two years.

The researchers didn't identify specific drugs, just a TZD group and a group that didn't use them. All patients were Type 2 diabetics, meaning they couldn't produce enough insulin or their bodies couldn't process insulin adequately.

"Contrary to previous concerns, we found no evidence for increased rates of heart-failure admission in diabetic heart-failure patients treated with TZDs," the authors say. Their research was completed before the NEJM article was published. "Our data suggest that TZDs may be used safely in individuals with stable heart failure and that TZDs could be included in the armamentarium to adequately treat diabetes in this group."

However, the study has limitations because it was retrospective research, or a review of medical records rather than a clinical trial. "Until data from adequately powered randomized clinical trials are available ... clinicians treating individuals with diabetes and heart failure must remain cautious when using this class of medications," the researchers say.

An accompanying editorial says that until results are published for clinical trials assessing TZDs and heart failure, the latest findings "should at least keep TZDs out of the dreaded 'black box' warning for heart failure."