Originally published October 11 2004
Vioxx fiasco raises concerns about heart attack and stroke risk of other anti-inflammatory COX-2 inhibitor drugs
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
Ah, how quickly we forget: Vioxx was originally peddled to the public as the "safe" anti-inflammatory drug, remember? The funny part is that all those arthritis sufferers would do far better on astaxanthin (a natural antoixidant harvested from microalgae).
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Scientists and European regulators are now questioning the safety of other pain relievers like Vioxx, saying these medications also might raise the risk of heart attack and stroke.
- Vioxx, heavily marketed as an arthritis drug, was pulled from the market last week after its maker announced that a study showed it doubled the risk of heart problems.
- But the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said similar prescription drugs were safe.
- On Wednesday, the European Medicines Agency in London announced it would review drugs similar to Vioxx.
- And researchers writing in the New England Journal of Medicine voiced their concerns as well with such drugs as Pfizer's popular Celebrex.
- Studies done five years ago when Celebrex and Merck & Co.'s Vioxx were approved suggest that the same mechanism that inhibits inflammation and makes the drugs easier on the stomach than traditional painkillers also blocks a substance that prevents heart problems, according to Dr. Garret FitzGerald, a University of Pennsylvania cardiologist.
- "I believe this is a class effect," meaning that the problem also applies to Celebrex and Pfizer's newer, similar drug, Bextra, which remain on the market.
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