Bristol-Myers Squibb has joined its former partner Merck in dropping the development of the Pargluva diabetes pill after the treatment was linked to an elevated risk of heart attacks and strokes.

Obtaining regulatory approval would require further long-term studies "to clarify the cardiovascular profile of the compound," Bristol-Myers said yesterday. The five years needed to complete additional studies would create too much of a delay, the company said.

Merck dropped out of a partnership on the drug last December, two months after federal regulators delayed approval.

"People expected this after the Merck announcement late last year," said Kevin Scotcher, an analyst with HSBC Bank USA in New York. "It won't affect sales figures or R.& D. figures or analyst ratings or share prices. It won't affect anything."

Pargluva would have been the first of a new type of noninsulin treatments used to control blood sugar in people with Type 2 diabetes, the most common form of the disease, which affects almost 12 million Americans.