Rezulin

On March 21, 2000 head of the FDA's center for Drug evaluation and Research stated that the "Continued use of Rezulin" posed an "unacceptable risk" to diabetes patients. At least 63 Rezulin users have died of liver failure. The total number of deaths is estimated to be as many as ten times higher than the reported 63 cases.

Rezulin was approved for diabetics who used insulin and took certain types of oral antihyperglycemic medications or fodiabetics. The patient's diabetes could not be controlled by diet and exercise alone.

Rezulin was banned in England in December 1997, following the death of an American who took the drug. The drug manufacturer, Warner-Lambert successfully fought a ban in the U.S. for 27 months before the FDA decided to prohibit sales of the drug on March 21, 2000.

Before the ban, sales of Rezulin generated Warner-Lambert $1.8 billion in revenues. At its peak, the drug was prescribed 488,000 times in January of 1999.