JP Garnier, Glaxo’s ceo, says the FDA is “on our side” in backing the safety of Avandia, and blames the controversy on a “political agenda” in the US.

The interview, which comes as a hearing is held right now (click here to watch) to examine the way Glaxo and the FDA handled Avandia safety, is the latest step the drugmaker is undertaking to salvage its image and profits. Since the May 21 analysis in the New England Journal of Medicine, which found that Avandia increased heart attack risks by 43 percent, Avandia scrips have plunged.

“There are now four different studies than now demonstrate that there are no difference between Avandia and the other treatments” for diabetes, Garnier tells Bloomberg News. “The situation is more complicated in the U.S. because of the political agenda that has been superimposed on the science, and that is unfortunate.”