HA NOI - The Drug Administration of Viet Nam (DAV) has confirmed that pioglitazone, which is an ingredient in medicines used to treat diabetes, can increase the risk of bladder cancer.

DAV Director Truong Quoc Cuong said the French Medicine Agency (Afssaps) decided last Thursday to suspend the use of medicines containing pioglitazone, including Actos and Competact, while awaiting final results of a review of their benefits and risks.

Medicines containing pioglitazone are used to treat Type 2 diabetes, typically called non-insulin dependent diabetes, which is the most common form of the disease.

To ensure safety, DAV ordered health departments at the provincial and lower levels to inform their clinics and pharmacists of the risks associated with medicines containing pioglitazone.

The National Centre of Drug Information and Adverse Drug Reaction Monitoring was assigned to provide information about pioglitazone safety and send reports to the administration for further assessments.

Clinics are also required to carefully watch for, identify and promptly handle any adverse drug reactions to pioglitazone.

The European Medicines Agency and the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have conducted experiments to test the safety of the medicines.

The FDA highly recommended doctors to avoid prescribing medicines containing pioglitazone.

Doctors are required to advise patients about the risks of bladder cancer whenever they find signs of blood in the urine, backaches or bellyaches. -Viêt Nam News/Asia News Network