Pargluva - Curiouser and Curiouser.....

Insider has already commented on the "good/bad" news about Pargluva.

http://pharmagossip.blogspot.com/2005/10/bmsmerck-good-newsbad-news.html

But now a new perspective has been added to the issue. Derek Lowe of "In the Pipeline" has come up with some pretty deep and disturbing insights!

"The entire dual-PPAR-agonist idea is in trouble. The whole point of adding PPAR-alpha activity was to improve blood lipid profiles, and pretty much the whole point of doing that is to improve cardiovascular health. The first part is working, but the second part, the important part, just doesn't seem to be happening. Looking at the data, I find it hard to imagine why anyone would take muraglitazar over the exisiting therapies, when there's no evidence for what is supposed to be its main advantage."

In addition, on BMS/Merck:

"What on Earth were they thinking, submitting data in a way that makes it look like they were trying to pull a fast one with the cardiovascular risk factors? Now, of all times? Who knows, maybe people at BMS had just convinced themselves that things were fine, somehow - the capacity for human self-deception is limitless. But didn't anyone at Merck turn pale and have to sit down when they saw these numbers?"

http://www.corante.com/pipeline/ (Post: This had better be good!)

One final thought:

Both Actos and Avandia have been associated with heart failure, which has signaled the lawyers to start circling. MedPundit spotted a more nuanced look at the problem. So far, there have been no studies comparing Pargluva directly to Actos and Avandia.