With yet another drug mess on its hands, pharmaceutical firm GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) and the FDA are to face some tough questions from U.S. lawmakers today regarding the handling of data that showed an increased heart risk from the diabetes drug Avandia.

Dr. Steve Nissen from the Cleveland Clinic linked Avandia to a 43% higher chance of having a heart attack in May, and since then, the FDA and GSK both have offered data that conflicts the evidence brought forward by Dr. Nissen.

So, who is right here? There are not two right answers, so with the FDA and GSK not notifying patients back in 2006 that their findings showed a 30% increase in heart attack risks, both are sure to be branded under the fire today.

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I would have thought the days of "weight loss in a pill" products were numbered (the credible ones anyway), but they just keep coming! The latest is from GlaxoSmithKline and it's called Alli. It's a version of Xenical, and it's the first drug to be approved by the FDA for sale without a prescription and over-the-counter in the U.S. It works by preventing some absorption of fat into the body.

The advertising of this product will be interesting, with more than $150 million dollars budgeted for marketing alone they plan on taking a slightly different approach than many diet pills have in the past: it's gonna take work on your part too. Interesting.

Learn more at myalli.com.

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It seems as no surprise that the manufacturer of the black currant beverage Ribena, which is served in Australia, has admitted that the products does not four times as much vitamin C as comparable orange juice drinks.

The claim misled consumers of the product, made by pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline for UK customers (also consumers in Australia). The company has said that advertising and packaging which implied Ribena fruit drinks contained four times the vitamin C of comparable orange juice products were incorrect. Apparently, there was no quality control on the marketing function of the drink, then.

It's becoming harder and harder to trust anything being read on the nutrition labels of food products when you see such a blatant marketing misdeed like this. What is really in that "healthy" sports drink?

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