A `wonder drug' heralded as a revolution in the battle against the potential killer diabetes has been pulled from UK shelves.

But locals need not fear, the major pharmaceutical importers have not brought in the drug for several months after a Bermudian doctor voiced concern.

Licensed European distributor, Glaxo Wellcome, recently suspended British sales of the new diabetes drug troglitazone -- known in the US as Resulin.

The move came on the heels of increasing reports from the US and Japan of serious liver complications associated with the drug.

As of December 1, 147 reports of severe liver reactions were filed -- including six deaths. The reactions reportedly ranged from liver cell damage to liver failure.

And doctors were urged to see patients as soon as possible to address their treatment and administer liver function tests.

According to reports, officials could not explain the reactions and said there was no way the reactions could be predicted by age, sex, or pre-existing liver disease.

The UK publication, The Pharmaceutical Journal, said the decision to pull the drugs from circulation was a voluntary one taken by the company.

"In light of these reports and in the interest of patient safety, Glaxo Wellcome has decided that it needs time to evaluate further the safety profile of troglitazone,'' said a company statement issued on December 1.

Troglitazone -- also known as Rezulin -- sensitises the body's cells to sugar and reportedly helped prevent the premature onset of the most common form of the disease -- Type II diabetes.

Last summer, visiting George Washington University medical school professor Dr. John Shigo said the drug could be the greatest diabetic development since the discovery of insulin 80 years ago.

But at the time local doctor Wilbert Warner delivered a different diagnosis about the drug, citing the bulletin `The Medical Letter' which said: "The safety and effectiveness of long-term use of troglitazone remain to be established.'' And said Dr. Shigo should not have raised local diabetics' expectations to unrealistic heights.

Yesterday, the Chief Medical Officer Dr. John Cann said that the drug had not been available in Bermuda for several months, "unless independent distributors were still bringing it in''.

Dr. Cann said the halt came after a meeting where Dr. Warner's concerns were aired and discussed.

He estimated that neither the hospital nor the major pharmaceutical importer BGA had brought in the drug for four or five months.

Debbie Jones of the King Edward VII's Diabetes Centre could not be reached for comment.

Diabetes -- a major problem on the Island -- is when the body cannot properly convert sugar and starch. It is due to a deficiency in the production or effectiveness of the hormone insulin and can lead to severe health problems.

Type II diabetes tends to be genetic in nature. If either parent has diabetes, their child will develop it. However, suffers are able to handle the disease via diet, medication and for some insulin.

Those that have Type I diabetes require insulin to control the disease. It results from antibodies that strike insulin cells in the pancreas, leading to decreased insulin production.

The 1996 Bermuda Diabetes Epidemiology Project revealed that 10.7 percent of adult Bermudians, or one-in-nine adults, over the age of 18-years had Diabetes.