Endocrine Insider
August 15, 2007

Society members are often featured in popular press and media as authorities on endocrinology issues. Here are two examples of recent news coverage of members.

Robert Vigersky Comments on Avandia
On August 1, Society member Robert Vigersky, MD, was featured prominently in a Financial Times of London article on the potential implications of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Advisory Committee’s new recommendations on the diabetes drug Avandia (rosiglitazone).

In a public hearing held on July 30, 2007, the advisory committee voted 22-1 to recommend to the FDA that Avandia be kept on the market with the addition of a black box warning for specific subgroups of patients.

In the news report, Dr. Vigersky stated that switching patients from one drug to another is not optimal, especially if their existing regimen is working as expected. Such decisions are likely to be made on a case-by-case basis, he predicted, adding that “everybody is going to have to make an individual judgment as to whether or not Avandia is the right drug at the time or whether someone who is on Avandia should be switched.”

The full article can be viewed here: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/6f55736c-4038-11dc-9d0c-0000779fd2ac,
dwp_uuid=e8477cc4-c820-11db-b0dc-000b5df10621.html

Cushing’s Patient Credits Ace Lipson
In the August 14, 2007 Washington Post, Society member Ace Lipson, MD, was the subject of the Post’s Medical Mysteries column on Cushing’s disease. The article reviewed the past efforts of a woman to find the cause of her seemingly disconnected suite of symptoms, which included rapid weight gain, stomach pain, severe acne, aching joints, and a red rash on her neck. The correct diagnosis came when the patient was referred to Dr. Lipson by her internist. Dr. Lipson estimated in the article that he has seen about 20 Cushing’s patients in his career, and was quoted as saying that it can be a “very difficult diagnosis because the individual symptoms can lead you in very different directions.”

Following surgery in March 1993 to remove the brain tumor that was causing the disease, the patient reported that she had returned to normal. The full story can be read here: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content
/article/2007/08/10/AR2007081001808.html