I expected the advisory panel to turn the drug down. When they didn't, I was really surprised. And so I now had a potential public health catastrophe in the waiting,

This panel was asleep at the switch.

I think the FDA advisory committee was asleep at the switch, ... The question is, did they not get it, or did they get it and were not willing to stand their ground?

We could still be wrong. That's what has to happen for this drug to move forward.

I treated this as a public health emergency, ... A drug that had an 8-to-1 vote in favor of approval and that could any day be approved by the FDA to be used by any of 18 million Americans with type 2 diabetes was, by my analysis, doubling of risk of serious irrevocable cardiovascular events like death, heart attacks and stroke. I dropped everything.

You can turn your back on a person, but, never turn your back on a drug. Especially when it's waving a razor-sharp hunting knife in your eye.