The slumping sales of Avandia have seriously impacted the profitability of GlaxoSmithKline (GSK). Wall Street analysts have downgraded the stock amid rising concerns of impending litigation involving Avandia and Paxil and increased generic competition that will continue to erode GSK's market share.

Avandia had been one of GSK's most lucrative drugs garnering billions in sales until studies last year found an increased risk of cardiovascular problems among its users, notably an increased risk of congestive heart disease. As a result of these concerns sales of Avandia declined more than 25%.

GSK faced with declining sales of other products and increased generic competition facing its other products seems to be so desperate to increase profits at the expense of patient safety that it is exploring ways to reinvigorate Avandia sales. A post on the Wall Street Journal Health Blog on February 7, 2008 by Jacob Goldstein reported "Glaxo intends to boost sales Avandia once the attention from the media quiets down and the company can resume conversations with doctors, the company’s head of U.S. pharmaceutical operations Chris Viehbacher said Thursday, according to Dow Jones. Doctors haven’t lost faith in the class of diabetic drugs to which Avandia belongs, he said, but he declined to provide a timeline for an Avandia turnaround." http://blogs.wsj.com/health/2008/02/07/avandia-slump-makes-glaxo-glum-in...