Rezulin, the brand name for troglitazone, was a prescription drug that helped diabetics utilize insulin in the bloodstream. For those diabetics with adult-onset (Type 2) diabetes who had built a resistance to insulin, Rezulin was designed to reduce the amount of sugar produced by the liver and control the body's blood sugar levels.
For the more than 500,000 people with Type 2 Diabetes who received Rezulin, the drug was promoted as the alternative to daily insulin injections that the diabetics required to survive. Warner-Lambert, the manufacturer of Rezulin, requested and received fast track approval of Rezulin, and the drug made its way through the quickest approval process for a diabetes drug in the history of the Federal Drug Administration (FDA).
In October of 1997, there were reports of serious Rezulin side
effects, including 35 cases of liver damage related to Rezulin, two
ending in death. These findings led Warner-Lambert to
recommend that physicians monitor their patients' liver condition by
testing enzyme levels five times during the first year. When this
failed to prevent Rezulin-related liver damage, Warner-Lambert
raised the warning to ten exams for the first year.
On May 19, 2000, the FDA finally requested the withdrawal of
Rezulin. At that time, Rezulin was associated with 90 confirmed
reports of liver failure and 63 deaths. Many people who took Rezulin
have suffered severe liver damage resulting in death or the need
for a liver transplant. It is feared that hundreds more have
sustained permanent liver damage from Rezulin use without even
knowing it.
