UK wants Avandia diabetes pill pulled

UK wants Avandia diabetes pill pulled

LONDON

British drug regulators say GlaxoSmithKline’s controversial diabetes pill Avandia should be pulled from the U.K. market because of concerns that the drug can increase the risk of heart attacks.

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency said an independent panel of experts concluded that the risks of Avandia outweigh its benefits, and that it should no longer be sold in Britain.

The British Medical Journal also called for the immediate withdrawal of the drug, saying it never should have been licensed.

Avandia was approved by the European Medicines Agency to help lower blood sugar levels in patients with Type 2 diabetes.

The calls to pull Avandia came ahead of an EMA meeting on the drug’s safety scheduled later this week.

9 who called for protests arrested

MAPUTO, Mozambique

Mozambicans found Monday they could not send text messages after some used the technology to call for protests in this impoverished country over increases in food, water and electricity prices.

Protests last week in the capital, Maputo, turned violent, with demonstrators clashing with police. The health department said three people died Monday from injuries in the violence last week, bringing the toll to 13.

Maputo was calm over the weekend and early Monday, though many workers and students stayed home for fear of more violence. Also Monday, state radio reported nine people have been arrested on incitement charges for sending cell-phone messages calling for protests.

Unions suspend civil-service strike

CENTURION, South Africa

South African civil-servants unions are suspending a nationwide strike for higher wages to give members time to consider the government’s latest offer, labor leaders said Monday.

At a news conference on the 20th day of a strike that has crippled hospitals and schools in Africa’s most vibrant economy, Chris Klopper, who leads a coalition of government worker unions, said the suspension was immediate.

Cigarette-tax plans raise tensions

CATTARAUGUS INDIAN RESERVATION, N.Y.

As New York Indian Nation leaders battle in courtrooms to preserve their tax-free cigarette market, tensions are rising on reservations, where the state’s renewed efforts to tax sales to non-Native customers is viewed as yet another attack on Native American rights.

“For 200 years, we have been dealing with efforts to take our land, efforts to take our resources, efforts to take our jurisdiction,” said Robert Odawi Porter, senior policy adviser and counsel for the 7,800-member Seneca nation in western New York, which says its cigarette business is a $100 million-a-year industry.

Nine New York tribes are in the cigarette business. The $4.35 sales tax would force them to raise their prices and blunt their competitive edge over off-reservation sellers. Tribal leaders say the income loss would devastate economies.

Air Products boosts Airgas buyout offer

LEHIGH VALLEY, Pa.

Air Products and Chemicals is boosting its offer to buy rival Airgas to $65.50 per share, and now wants shareholder approval.

Based on 83.7 million Airgas shares outstanding in August, that puts Air Products’ latest bid at $5.48 billion.

Air Products & Chemicals Inc. now wants Airgas Inc. shareholders to elect its three nominees to its board and approve some bylaw proposals at a Sept. 15 meeting. Air Products says it will end its offer if shareholders fail to do so.

Associated Press