In Addition, They Are Highly Critical Of Relationship The Sanofi Aventis Drug Company Had With Those Doctors Who Developed Prescribing Guidelines
SUMMARY: The importance and significance of a February 2014 JAMA Internal Medicine article about Multaq is presented well by this report, “Dronedarone and Clinical Guidelines: A Dark Chapter That Must Be Reread”, that was published on the Medscape website.
From that Medscape piece by reporter John Mandrola:
The story of how a marginally effective and perhaps even hazardous drug made it to first-line status of major guideline documents is a hard image to revisit. Also difficult to look back at were the lavish steakhouse dinners, the webinars, the “sponsored” programs, and then the result: legions of general cardiologists and primary-care doctors prescribing [Multaq (dronedarone)] en masse. With [Multaq (dronedarone)], for a time at least, hype trounced science…. [emphasis added]
We know, now, since being approved by the FDA in 2009 and soon becoming an often-prescribed atrial fibrillation drug, Multaq has been associated with increased risks of serious side effects, including liver failure, interstitial lung disease (ILD), stroke, and sudden cardiac death.
[Read this article in full at original source]