It would only be surprising if Takeda Pharmaceuticals didn’t make such a move. The drugmaker plans to roll out ads touting the safety of its own Actos diabetes pills tomorrow - just two days after Glaxo acquiesced to the FDA and agreed to place yet another Black Box warning on Avandia product labeling. The new warning carries info about heart attack risks; an earlier Black Box mentions heart failure.

Although the latest Avandia warning says that evidence is “inconclusive” about the increased risk of heart attacks, Wall Street expects the language to further dampen sales of the drug, which have plummeted since safety concerns arose in May, the Associated Press notes. And this gives Actos an advantage, because its the only diabetes drug in the same class as Avandia. Takeda has already benefit - the AP reports that for the first half of the year, US sales of Actos were $1.4 billion, compared with Avandia’s $973 million, according to IMS Health.

The ads from Japan’s largest drug company, which will run Friday in 82 US newspapers, will read: “Actos has been shown to lower blood sugar without increasing your risk of having a heart attack or stroke.” The language walks a careful line between what FDA says is - and isn’t - known about the comparative safety of diabetes drugs, the AP points out.

While Takeda’s drug has not shown the same risks as Avandia, FDA stressed Wednesday that no diabetes pill has been shown to lower patients’ risks of heart problems. The agency said all companies, including Takeda, will have to add that information to their labels.

Glaxo has no immediate plans for ads. “For now we’re focused on having one-on-one discussions with physicians about why Avandia remains a safe and effective medicine for most type 2 diabetes patients,” says Glaxo spokeswoman ary Anne Rhyne.

Source: Associated Press