Exubera and Lung Cancer

April 9, 2008

Exubera for DiabetesPfizer, Inc. today sent letters to patients who may be taking Exubera, and to medical professionals who may be prescribing the drug to inform them of a possible link between Exubera use and lung cancer.

Exubera is a short-acting insulin that is administered through an inhaler. It helps diabetic adults control high blood sugar and is used for Type I and Type II diabetes.

If you are taking Exubera do not panic. There have only been six newly diagnosed cases of primary lung malignancies (lung cancer) in Exubera-treated patients from the clinical trials and ALL were former smokers. But these results do raise concern because - even though the sample size is small - it suggests the possibility that Exubera users from the clinical trials with a history of smoking are five times more likely to develop lung cancer than those in the control group.

This begs two questions: Were there an equal amount of patients with a history of smoking in both groups? And how many people were included in the trial total?

For more information, see this PDF File from the FDA website, signed by:
Rochelle L. Chaiken, MD
Vice President, Global Medical Cardiovascular and Metabolic Diseases
Pfizer, Inc.

Click Here to speak to an attorney about this recall!

Written by E. Sizemore · Filed Under Featured 

Comments

Have something to share?