Pioglitazone, an anti-diabetic drug sold under the names Actos and Competact, has been suspected for several years to increase the risk of bladder cancer. It is for this reason that the National Medicines Safety Agency (then called Afssaps) decided to suspend the marketing of these two anti-diabetic medicines on the French market in 2011.
But the molecule is still prescribed across the Atlantic and in some European countries. The researchers therefore continued their investigations on pioglitazone and the latest Canadian study published on the subject in the British medical journal confirms that the use of this medication by patients with type 2 diabetes is not without risk.
63% more risk
For this study, researchers from McGill University in Montéreal (Canada) compared the use of pioglitazone with other antidiabetic drugs in more than 145,800 patients newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes and treated between 2000 and 2013 .
They took into account secondary factors that could influence the results, such as age, sex, duration of diabetes, smoking, and alcohol-related disorders.
They found that pioglitazone was associated with a 63% increased risk of bladder cancer. A risk that increases with longer consumption and higher doses.
In contrast, the researchers found that rosiglitazone, a similar diabetes drug marketed as Avandia, does not increase the risk of bladder cancer.
Read also :
Diabetes: 8,000 amputees each year
Type 2 diabetes could be detected with a saliva test
