Asthma Drugs Educe FDA Worry

The Food and Drug Administration on Friday issued a public health advisory about potentially fatal side effects from two GlaxoSmithKline (GSK Quote) asthma drugs. The company vigorously disputed the FDA's analysis.

The agency is asking the maker of the drugs, Advair Diskus and Serevent Diskus, to add warnings to their labels that these medications "may increase the chance of severe asthma episodes, and death when those episodes occur."

Advair is GlaxoSmithKline's biggest product, with $4 billion in sales during the first nine months of 2005. Serevent's sales were $450 million. By late afternoon, the company's stock was down $2.20, or 4.2%, to $49.85 on trading that was more than triple the average daily trade for the past three months. ...