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Australian government tries to stop independent advice on diabetes drugs

BMJ 2003; 327 doi: 10.1136/bmj.327.7428.1368-g (Published 11 December 2003)
Cite this as: BMJ 2003;327:1368.8

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  1. Bob Burton
  1. Canberra

    The Australian Department of Health and Ageing has admitted that it lobbied an independent agency, which advises doctors and consumers on appropriate use of drugs, to exclude two diabetes drugs from its review programme.

    In October the government announced that Eli Lilly's Actos (pioglitazone hydrochloride) and GlaxoSmithKline's Avandia (rosiglitazone maleate) would be included on the schedule of drugs subsidised by the government to treat type 2 diabetes.

    As part of the deal on the two drugs, the details of which are deemed “commercial in confidence,” the …

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