After the Type 2 diabetic drug Actos was linked to an increased risk of bladder cancer last summer, it was pulled off the shelves in France and Germany. (Of course, it remains available in the US, where the large pharmaceutical corporations have bought and paid for legislators and essentially control the FDA – but the agency has at least required a warning label.)

Let me preface this with a disclaimer: I am not offering any medical advice here. The information presented here is strictly informational; should the reader be interested in utilizing some of the care options presented, s/he is strongly advised to discuss them with his/her primary care physician or other medical professional (preferably one who is not on the payroll of, or taking money from one of the big pharmaceutical corporations).

As lawsuits against Actos manufacturer Takeda Pharmaceuticals continue to mount, Glaxo-Smith-Kline (GSK), manufacturer of Avandia, is finding that their problems have gotten even more complicated – and a number of lawsuits that the company had hoped to get dismissed aren't likely to simply "go away."

In order to understand Actos and Avandia are intended to treat Type II diabetes and how they have wound up causing seemingly unrelated health problems, it will be helpful to review some basic biology.