New Use for Glaxo Drug

GlaxoSmithKline (GSK Quote) said Tuesday that it received federal approval to sell the drug Avandamet as an initial therapy for diabetes.

Avandamet was approved in 2002 as a second-line therapy for patients who can't control their blood-sugar levels with another drug. The company said it now has an adequate supply of the drug, more than 15 months after federal officials seized batches of Avandamet and the antidepressant Paxil CR and ordered a halt to their sales.

The drugs were confiscated because the Food and Drug Administration said the company had failed to adequately and promptly address manufacturing problems at a plant in Puerto Rico. ...