The report on diabetes prescribing in England revealed that 2.1 million prescriptions for glitazones, at a cost of £94 million, were written in 2006.
Rosiglitazone remained the most commonly prescribed glitazone, with over 1.4 million prescriptions.
The use of rosiglitazone in combination with metformin also increased to exceed rates of pioglitazone prescriptions.
However, findings that link rosiglitazone to a 63 per cent increased risk of death from cardiovascular cause, are expected to impact on future prescribing patterns.
Last month the European Medicines Agency said prescribing information for rosiglitazone must include a warning that in patients with ischaemic heart disease, rosiglitazone should only be used after careful evaluation of risk.
sanjay.tanday@haymarket.com
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Glitazone scrips up a third
The number of scrips for glitazones increased by 33.5 per cent between 2005 and 2006 in England, according to a report by the DoH’s Information Centre.
