In the midst of links to serious heart ailments, new studies are pointing to additional increased health risks associated with GlaxoSmithKline’s drug Avandia. With tests already demonstrating the drug weakened bones in women, a June 2007 article in Diabetes Care found men on the product had lower bone mineral density in the spine and hips.

“This suggests that thiazolidinedione treatment Avandia is a risk factor and can contribute to excess incidence of fractures in diabetes,” researchers from the Virginia Medical Center and Louisiana State University in Shreveport, Louisiana wrote in the study.

The new study could lead to a warning label on the drug. The FDA is scheduled to discuss Avandia at a meeting on July 30, 2007.

Source: Kari Lundgren and Andrea Gerlin, “Glaxo’s Avandia May Get Bone Warning, Analyst Says,” Bloomberg, July 4, 2007.