Once again the FDA has reached a conclusion that is directly opposed by some of its own scientists. Last month the FDA affirmed the safety of olmesartan, a popular blood pressure lowering drug (sold as Benicar and other names). But that reassuring view is not shared by the FDA scientists who performed the study that provided the basis for the review. And now outside experts are also raising concerns about the drug.
Back in 2010 the FDA said that it was initiating a safety review of olmesartan due to troubling findings from 2 clinical trials that raised the possibility that patients with type 2 diabetes taking olmesartan might have an increased risk of cardiovascular death. Four years later the FDA announced that it had completed that review.
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