FDA: Don’t use glucose test strips if you are on biologic drugs

By David Liu (davidl@foodconsumer.org)

Diabetes patients need insulin to help break down carbohydrates. Glucose testing strips are often used to monitor the level of blood sugar to decide the dose of the hormone.

The Food and Drug Administration warned diabetics not to use certain glucose test strips from Roche, Abbott Laboratories and other companies when they are on dialysis and other biologic drugs, Reuters reported on Aug 14.

The problem is that these strips give inaccurate results when the patients are using biologic drugs like dialysis and immunoglobulins indicated for patients who have serious medical conditions like kidney failure and rheumatoid arthritis.

The biologic drugs contain no sugar but they can cause higher readings of blood sugar prompting patients to use overdoses of insulin, which can be life-threatening.

The warning that the biologic drugs can interfere with glucose testing has already been placed on the label. But the FDA says the problematic strips continue to be used in spite of the warnings.

The FDA issued the warning after receiving 13 reports of death related to the use of glucose testing strips and biologic drugs in the past 12 years.

The agency says six deaths have been reported last year. And in some cases, patients experienced grain damage, coma and confusion prior to death.

On Thursday, the FDA sent a letter to doctors urging them to report any suspected problem associated with glucose strips.

The products of concern include Roche's Accu-Chek Comfort Curve test strips and Abbott's Freestyle test strips.

Abbott is reportedly working on a new version of glucose testing and expects to submit a marketing application to FDA in the next 30 days.