Doctors Urge Withdrawal of Bextra, a Drug Similar to Vioxx
Reported December 27, 2004
(Ivanhoe Newswire) — A group of doctors want the medication valdecoxib (Bextra) removed from the market, except for extraordinary circumstances, because it increases the risk of stroke and heart attack. They pose their concern in a letter to the editor in the latest issue of the The New England Journal of Medicine.
Doctors from Vanderbilt University ‘s School of Medicine in Nashville, Tenn., referred specifically to rofecoxib, better known as Vioxx, saying that valdecoxib, another coxib medication, poses a similar health concern to the public.
The doctors cited two randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trials in patients immediately following coronary-artery bypass grafting. The trials revealed valdecoxib increased patients’ risk for serious cardiovascular outcomes by about a factor of three.
While Pfizer, the manufacturer of Bextra, acknowledges the cardiotoxicity posed to patients at high risk for heart disease, the authors of the letter write, “The crucial public health question concerns the safety of patients who are taking lower doses of valdecoxib for musculoskeletal disorders, most of whom have a lower baseline of cardiovascular events.”
The doctors note valdecoxib is used by 7 million patients worldwide, and they say not enough is known concerning the cardiovascular safety of the drug in populations at lower risk for heart disease.
SOURCE: The New England Journal of Medicine, 2004;391:2767