“Bextra concerns continue to mount”
-November 15, 2004
Merck pulled Vioxx from the market after a trial showed long term use of the arthritis drug doubled the risk of heart attack and stroke in September. Vioxx is part of the class of drugs known as cox-2 inhibitors, which has now been the source of controversy ever since Merck made its recall announcement.
Researchers announced a preliminary study indicated Bextra also more than doubled the risk of heart attacks and strokes among patients with heart disease. Pfizer responded to the research as being “unsubstantiated conclusions,” though the news caused the company’s stock to tumble. Already, Pfizer had told regulators it would add a “black box warning,” the most serious alert to its packaging to warn consumers of a potentially fatal skin reaction called Stevens Johnson Syndrome.
A Cleveland Clinic cardiologist among the first to warn about heart problems associated to cox-2 inhibitor drugs has said the arthritis drugs are hurting people more than they are saving people. When cox-2 drugs were first discovered they were praised for blocking the enzyme that causes the pain and swelling of arthritis inflammation while being selective in their targets to allow the cox-1 enzyme that helps the stomach maintain a protective lining to be bypassed. Now more and more experts are claiming the once deemed breakthrough in arthritis treatment might have been no better than already available treatment methods.
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