GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) share prices fell again today after losses last night due to fears for sales and potential claims over its medicine Avandia.
The company, which employs 1,600 people in Ireland, slid 3 per cent in early dealings yesterday to £13.48 (€19.7647) per share, adding to a decline of 5 per cent late yesterday.
A study published in in the New England Journal of Medicinesaid the drug Avandia, used in the treatment of Type 2 diabetes, increased the risk of cardiac-related fatalities by 64 per cent and heart attacks by 43 per cent.
GSK said yesterday that it it strongly rejected the claims in the New England Journaland that the findings are "based on incomplete evidence and a methodology that the author admits has significant limitations".
Fears that the company's drug may be taken off the market may be allayed by the fact that independent long-term studies of the drug support the cardio-vascular safety of Avandia.
But analysts have halved their projections for the sales of the drug in 2010 to €1.76 billion from €3.5 billion before the outbreak of the controversy.
Avandia is a particularly profitable drug for GSK and was expected to account for 15 per cent of the company's earnings this year.
Deutsche Bank, which downgraded the stock to hold from buy, said Avandia would inevitably suffer from negative publicity, counter-detailing by competing drug makers and potential label restrictions enforced by regulators.
Additional reporting by Reuters