Pfizer warns of risks from its pain killer (Bextra)

[JoFerret]

Yet another drug company admission.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/16/business/16pfizer.html?hp&ex=1097985600&en=edf084e6796bf4bc&ei=5094&partner=homepage

Pfizer warned doctors yesterday that one of its best-selling painkillers, Bextra, might increase the risk of heart attack or stroke in coronary artery bypass surgery patients. The announcement comes just two weeks after Merck removed from the market its painkiller, Vioxx, which is in the same class of medicines as Bextra, because a study showed that the risk of heart attacks doubled for patients who had taken Vioxx 18 months or longer.

Pfizer said a clinical study involving more than 1,500 patients showed that those who had undergone bypass surgery and had taken Bextra intravenously and orally were at higher risk for heart attacks. An initial study last year raised similar concerns in the same kinds of patients.

The painkillers known as COX-2 inhibitors, which include Bextra and Vioxx, have been widely prescribed to people with arthritis. Merck's decision to withdraw Vioxx cast suspicion on the safety of drugs in that class. Now Pfizer's warning is sure to fuel the debate about the overall safety of these drugs for all patients.
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[illuminaughty]

1. Are they gonna pull it off the market ?

My Mom just went off Vioxx and started Bextra yesterday. Nothing else has helped her pain like the Vioxx though.

(And I've got to go to sleep now because after I typed that first sentence I saw that I had typed Viagra instead of Vioxx). Wow! Hey maybe that might work.

[IggleDoer]

2. Viagra wouldn't work for Arthritis ...

It's supposed to make you stiff

[Eloriel]

3. And it sometimes makes you A stiff -

as in DEAD. Seriously, death is one of the possible side effects.

[radwriter0555]

4. Dang I've taken ALL this stuff! LUCKILY only for a week or so

and then, since it all has a less than 30% chance of WORKING (and in me, it didn't work!!) I stopped taking it.

Most pain killing prescriptions work in less than 30% of the people they're prescribed to. Isn't that a fascinating stat I stumbled across while researching pain meds?

(I have arthitis from injuries, nothing terrible at the moment)

[Elginoid]

5. i feel vindicated.

i have a progresive arthritic condition, and when they tried to put me on vioxx or celebrex when they first came out, i refused. I also refused to go on Remicaid, which is also now showing problems as well.

Ibuprofen and methadone are what does it for me.