VIOXX pulled from market....

[Dr Mordrid]

Sell your Merck stock.

Apparently their major arthritis drug Vioxx has been found in an FDA study to cause a 50% increase in the rate of heart attacks and sudden cardiac death in patients who have taken it for >18 months.

Dr. Mordrid

[schmosef]

I wonder if there's going to be a lawsuit.

Maybe it's just me but there seems to have been a lot of drug recalls lately.

We must know a lot less about how the human body works (or at least how to manipulate it) than we think.

[Dr Mordrid]

There is already a class-action lawsuit against Merck;

http://www.forbes.com/work/newswire/2003/07/02/rtr1018028.html

Dr. Mordrid

[Brian R.]

The real test of drug safety is in animals and in humans post-approval. Not an ideal situation for confidence.

[Indiana]

It's quite a pity since Vioxx was a good alternative for quite some patients with pain caused by bone metastases to Ibuprofen / Diclofenac / or even mophines and the like when I was working on a department with mostly tumor patients.

[Paddy]

I've not heard anything about rofecoxcib being withdrawn from the market. Is this just Vioxx or does the study pertain to other COX2 inhibitors?

Got any links?

[Brian R.]

Merck says that these results do not apply to any other drug. FDA will closely monitor other COX-2 drugs for similar problems. Rofecoxcib will also be pulled from the market - They are considered identical for regulatory purposes.

http://www.fda.gov/cder/drug/infopage/vioxx/default.htm

http://www.fda.gov/bbs/topics/news/2004/NEW01122.html

http://www.nationalreviewofmedicine.com/issue/2004_06_30/clinical09_13.html

[Paddy]

right... so celecoxcib it is then! (for now)

[James_D]

Originally posted by Paddy
right... so celecoxcib it is then! (for now)

Only problem is that its less specific.
And this wasn't a bombshell as people say.. There was a study done on 2001, by Boers, which clearly showed an increased risk for cardiovascular complications. Because both celecoxib, and rofecoxib does increase blood pressure, and there for are strongly contraindicated in hypertensive patients.

JD

[Brian Ellis]

Originally posted by Indiana
It's quite a pity since Vioxx was a good alternative for quite some patients with pain caused by bone metastases to Ibuprofen / Diclofenac / or even mophines and the like when I was working on a department with mostly tumor patients.

Bone metastases are so painful and slow that a fatal CVA would be a useful and possibly welcome side-effect In any case, for this condition, any relief is better than none, as diamorphine gives relatively poor analgesia. Having prostate cancer, happily in remission for now, and knowing it could develop into a bone metastasis, it is a potential future that I would not welcome, but I would want the most effective analgesia.

[schmosef]

Prostate cancer... heavy deal.

Congrats on being in remission.

[Paddy]

We had a circular at work today saying that vioxx had been withdrawn.

[Brian R.]

Here's a wrinkle, Pfizer says it is looking into whether Celebrex may actually help prevent heart attacks.

[Wulfman]

Originally posted by Brian R.
Here's a wrinkle, Pfizer says it is looking into whether Celebrex may actually help prevent heart attacks.

personally I wouldn't take celebrex again, makes on unfocused.

mfg
wulfman

[Brian R.]

Here's an interesting editorial from the NEJM:

http://content.nejm.org/cgi/reprint/NEJMp048286v1.pdf