The quality of a pivotal clinical trial carried by GlaxoSmithKline to help the trend of continued use of its troubled diabetes drug, Avandia, has been criticized by officers at the US Food & Drug Administration.

In credentials that had been released on Friday, Thomas Marciniak, the cardiovascular medical Team Leader at the US regulator, criticized the supposed Record trial as `inefficiently crafted and conducted to offer any reassurance in regards to the [cardio-vascular] safety' of the drug.

The verdict is a strong thrust to GSK ahead of thorough inspection of Avandia, which is generically known as rosiglitazone, by the watchdog at a two-day expert group meet starting on Tuesday. The group could advocate about the withdrawal of the drug from the market.

Academics and medical experts will debate an array of clinical studies and investigation on patients taking the drug.

They will as well talk about the principles of continuing a study named Tide, which was requested by the FDA, so as to compare the risks and benefits of Avandia with the opponent Actos (pioglitazone) that is manufactured by Takeda.

The debate, which will be followed by comparable inspection from the European Medicines Agency in the approaching week, will comprise fresh submissions by the US Institute of Medicine, which issued guiding principles on the ethics of carrying out clinical trials.