Reuters Summit-Glaxo CEO says Avandia can make a comeback

((For other news from the Reuters Health Summit, click here))

NEW YORK, Nov 12 (Reuters) - A possible tighter U.S. label on GlaxoSmithKline Plc's (GSK.L) troubled Avandia drug may not be a disaster for the diabetes treatment, the company's chief executive said on Monday.

When asked whether Avandia could have a good future even with a second so-called black-box warning, Glaxo CEO Jean-Pierre Garnier said in a phone interview: "Absolutely. It all depends on what the language is."

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is expected to decide any day on its position over Avandia, Glaxo's second-biggest product -- sales of which have plummeted since a report in May linking it to increased heart attack risk.

"It's not the black box that matters or the lack of black box; that's not important to me, it's -- what is it saying?" Garnier told the Reuters Health Summit in New York.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has been reviewing the drug's label since July, when an agency advisory panel voted to keep Avandia on the market but with new warnings about its risks.

(For summit blog: summitnotebook.reuters.com/)

(Reporting by Ben Hirschler and Sam Cage, editing by Gerald E. McCormick)

((ben.hirschler@reuters.com; +44 7771 575 829; Reuters Messaging: ben.hirschler.reuters.com@reuters.net)) Keywords: HEALTH SUMMIT/GLAXO AVANDIA

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