By Megan Scudellari

Two years ago, drug safety researchers released a critical report linking certain inhaled lung medications, including the blockbuster drug Spiriva, to elevated risks of heart attack, stroke and death from heart disease by more than 50% compared with other inhaled lung drugs or placebo treatment. Notably, the scientists reached this conclusion by pooling the results of 17 clinical trials, all of which tested the inhaled drugs for at least 30 days.

Safety concerns arising from similar meta-analyses have been sufficient to get notable top-selling drugs, including Merck’s Vioxx and Novartis’s Zelnorm, yanked from the pharmacy shelf. And the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) came down quite harshly on GlaxoSmithKline’s Avandia after a 2007 meta-analysis raised red flags. Yet, in January, the agency ruled that Spiriva, marketed by Pfizer and Boehringer Ingelheim, does not pose a significant health risk. (Click here to continue reading)

Image by Steven Snodgrass via Flickr Creative Commons