The number of diabetics has been growing in Saudi Arabia in recent years, especially in Riyadh, where on an average 90 patients have feet amputated each month.

“The SFDA Committee for Medicinal Products Registration has given the company six months to provide evidence as to why the drug should not be permanently removed from the Saudi market,” said Abdullah Al-Humaidan, director of SFDA’s national drug and poison center.

According to one estimate, 27 percent of Saudis suffer from diabetes and the disease is spreading alarmingly. The number of diabetes-linked amputations is also rising quickly, and at a progressively young age.

Avandia is an oral diabetes medicine that helps control blood sugar levels by making the cells of the body more sensitive to the action of insulin. Avandia is for people with type 2 diabetes.

Al-Humaidan said he was concerned about the safety of rosiglitazone (the base chemical in Avandia) based on growing evidence from clinical studies that its use increases the risk of heart failure. Products containing rosiglitazone that are marketed in the Kingdom include Avandia, Avandamet and Avandaryl, he added.