National Briefing | Science and Health: F.D.A. Issues Alert on Diabetes Drug

By Reuters

Patients and doctors should be aware of possible kidney function problems with Eli Lilly and Amylin Pharmaceuticals’ Byetta diabetes drug, federal health regulators said. The Food and Drug Administration received 78 reports of problems with kidney function in patients using Byetta from April 2005 through October 2008. Nearly seven million prescriptions for the drug were written during roughly the same period, so the agency noted the number of kidney problems represented a “small percentage” of the total number of patients on the drug. Nonetheless, the agency approved changes to Byetta’s prescribing label to include information about the kidney function reports.

This article "National Briefing | Science and Health: F.D.A. Issues Alert on Diabetes Drug" originally appeared at The New York Times.