“It's like a decade-long nightmare coming to an end.”

—DR. STEVEN NISSEN, Cleveland Clinic cardiologist, on the FDA's plan to restrict patient access to Avandia, a diabetes drug that was approved in 1999 and has long been known to increase the risk of heart attack in users. The program, which takes effect in Nov., will limit Avandia to patients who have already been treated with it safely and for whom other blood sugar-controlling medications have failed; patients who choose the drug must do so informed of its risks, and doctors will need certification to prescribe it. "It will be so restricted in access that virtually no one will be able to get it," said Nissen. [via USA Today]