|
|
All Natural Pain Relief
Vioxx was a very popular prescription pain medication taken by an estimated 20 million people. In September 2004 however, it was pulled from the market because a study found that its use increased the risk of heart attack and stroke. On Friday...
How Stressed Out Are You?
Stress, America’s #1 health problem, is a leading cause of major illness. Heart disease, high blood pressure, and depression are just some of the harmful effects of stress. Research has shown that releasing stress and learning how to relax promotes...
Life Turnaround
Early each morning as part of my spiritual practices I trudge up
the foot paths that wind along Glassy Mountain behind Carl
Sandburg's home. This morning, as I stop to catch my breath, my
mind flashes to a time in the early '80s, a bad and ugly,...
Using Chinese Techniques For Your Health And Strength
Chi Kung and T'ai Chi are only two of the keys to self trust and to physical harmony. With the use of these techniques you can succeed with many accomplishments, without having to put yourself through great psychological or physical efforts, violent...
Viagra has Revolutionized the Lives of the Elderly
Many a times you must have seen that inviting look in the eyes of your mate while she is gardening and you are reading that Sunday morning newspaper of yours feeling sexually aroused, so desperate you feel, to see her inviting looks, but instead you...
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Arthritis Drugs Celebrex-Vioxx Safety in Doubt
“Arthritis drugs Vioxx, Celebrex safety in doubt”
In doubt and may not be as safe as previously thought. Research earlier this year has shown that these drugs increased the risk of heart attacks although a relatively low risk, over those taking a pain reliever. The FDA is debating whether to add information about the increased risk on both drugs’ labels. One Wall Street analyst has warned that this problem could have an adverse effect on Merck, the drug company responsible for these drugs be placed on the market - along with Pharmacia, which makes Celebrex, generating $2.3 billion in 12 months to March 31 of this year, Merck having sold $1.7 billion Vioxx during the same 12 months.
Studies done last year showed that patients taking Vioxx had four times the risk of heart attacks over patients taking Naproxen - another pain reliever. Naproxen is also sold under the brands names of Naprosyn and Aleve. The risk of heart attacks increases over time, at about four heart attacks per 1,000 patients. This study was sponsored by the Merck company, which also stated that their research does not show this problem of increased heart attacks with Vioxx.
These two drugs are among the best-sellers of prescription drugs in the world. They cause fewer ulcers that many other drugs given for pain. Richard R. Stover, a pharmaceutical industry analyst at Arnhold & S. Bleichroeder Inc, reported on April 27 that he did his own analysis on what he called “disturbing data” from Merck’s study. He stated that he was warning his clients, many of whom were institutional investors holding stock in Merck, that they should watch the issue carefully because it could effect the company’s stock price. Dr. M. Michael Wolfe, chief of the gastroenterology section at the Boston University School of Medicine and a member of the FDA advisory committee stated that there should be a warning, after a review of the issue earlier this year, stating that “The marketing of these drugs is unbelievable, I’m sure there are many people out there who are taking these drugs that should not be.”
There is a current debate going on between some doctors and Merck’s scientists as to whether the higher risk of heart attacks is a result of Vioxx causing damage in some patients or to an absence of the benefits that Naproxen may have in protecting the heart, that Naproxen stops or slows the production of thromboxane, which is thought to cause platelet in the blood to form clots, similar to the aspirin effect.
Vioxx and Celebrex have been shown to have the same benefit in protecting the heart.
Several doctors say they are worried about the possibility of heart attacks because many of the arthritis patients
taking the drugs are elderly and have a higher risk of cardiovascular problems to begin with. The current debate centers on whether the higher heart attack rate found in patients taking Vioxx is a result of the drug’s actually causing damage in some patients or to an absence of the heart-protecting benefits that Naproxen may have.
“Naproxen had a similar anti-platelet effect to aspirin,” said Dr. Eve E. Slater, senior vice president of external policy for Merck’s research labs, “and those people had fewer heart attacks.”
Neither Vioxx nor Celebrex has been shown to have the same heart-protecting benefit.
Slater also said that Stover’s report was flawed and biased in favor of Pharmacia. But regulators and some doctors say they still worry that there may be more of a problem with Vioxx. And even if Vioxx and Celebrex do not damage the heart, the fact that they do not have the heart-protecting benefits of aspirin reduces the ability of the companies to market them as being significantly safer than other pain relievers. Merck recommended last year that doctors involved in clinical trials of Vioxx consider prescribing low doses of aspirin to patients taking Vioxx if they are at high risk of heart attacks - although low doses of aspirin could increase the risk of ulcers. Ulcers are the main side effect that Vioxx and Celebrex were developed to avoid.
There have been no studies done to determine whether patients have fewer ulcers if they take low doses of aspirin with either Vioxx or Celebrex. In February Dr Maria Lourdes Villalba, at an FDA advisory meeting, stated that Merck had proved Vioxx [Rofecoxib] caused fewer serious ulcers than Naproxen. However, she also state that the potential safety advantage was offset by a higher risk of heart problems,in her opinion. She reported that “Overall, there was no safety superiority of Rofecoxib over Naproxen, mainly due to an excess of serious cardiovascular events”.
Dr Villalba also stated that there had been no studies to prove Merck’s claim that Naproxen worked like aspirin in decreasing heart attacks. The FDA expressed some concern over the higher rate of heart attacks with Vioxx, stating that this could be caused by the drug’s ability to produce blood clots.
“There is still a tremendous benefit with these drugs” reported Dr Eve Slater of Merck.
About the Author
Margot B, Writer, Web Developer Margot B has written a book and hundreds of articles, specializing in health and the environment.
mailto:margotb@wonderport.com Web Sites by Margot B: http://margot.bravepages.com http://margotsnews.gossimer.net http://websitebuilder4free.Biz-Page.com http://www.freewebz.com/nuchatlaht
|
|
|
|
|
National Library of Medicine - National Institutes of Health |
Part of the National Institutes of Health, the National Library of Medicine offers access to health information for consumer, patient, and physicians ... |
www.nlm.nih.gov |
  |
Health and Medical Information produced by doctors - MedicineNet.com |
Doctor-produced health and medical information written for you to make informed decisions about your health concerns. |
www.medicinenet.com |
  |
Medicine in the Yahoo! Directory |
Collection of sites for health professionals, with sections on specific disciplines, organizations, continuing education, conferences, publications, ... |
dir.yahoo.com |
  |
MedlinePlus Health Information from the National Library of Medicine |
Health information from the National Library of Medicine. Easy access to Medline and Health topics, medical dictionaries, directories and publications. |
medlineplus.gov |
  |
Medicine - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia |
Medicine is a branch of health science and the sector of public life ... The practice of medicine combines both science as the evidence base and art in the ... |
en.wikipedia.org |
  |
Journal Home - Nature Medicine |
Nature Medicine has a vacancy for a Locum Assistant Editor for six months. The position involves working in all aspects of the editorial process, ... |
www.nature.com |
  |
The New England Journal of Medicine: Research & Review Articles on ... |
The New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) is a weekly general medical journal that publishes new medical research findings, review articles, and editorial ... |
content.nejm.org |
  |
eMedicine Clinical Knowledge Base |
eMedicine features up-to-date, searchable, peer-reviewed medical journals, online physician reference textbooks, and a full-text article database in 62 ... |
www.emedicine.com |
  |
Open Directory - Health: Medicine |
the entire directory, only in Health/Medicine. Top: Health: Medicine (11429). Description · Medical Specialties (4888); Surgery (2265) ... |
dmoz.org |
  |
the www virtual library biosciences medicine |
www.ohsu.edu/cliniweb/wwwvl/ - Similar pages |
|
  |
Medicine - home |
Bimonthly journal covering the latest results in clinical investigation relevant to hospital and office practice. |
www.md-journal.com |
  |
Institute of Medicine |
The Institute of Medicine serves as adviser to the nation to improve health. |
www.iom.edu |
  |
ScienceDaily: Health & Medicine News |
Medical Research News. Health news on everything from cancer to nutrition. Full-text, images, updated daily. |
www.sciencedaily.com |
  |
Google Directory - Health > Medicine |
Search only in Medicine Search the Web. Medicine. Health > Medicine, Go to Directory Home. Categories. Alternative Medicine (6308) Basic Sciences (66) ... |
www.google.com |
  |
the world wide web virtual library biosciences medicine |
www.mcb.harvard.edu/biopages/medicine.html - Similar pages |
|
  |
PLoS Medicine - A Peer-Reviewed Open-Access Journal |
PLoS Medicine is a peer-reviewed, international, open-access journal published ... Every issue of PLoS Medicine contains a selection of readers' responses. ... |
medicine.plosjournals.org |
  |
Medicine On-Line - Medicine Online -The International Medical Journal |
Medicine Online - independent and peer reviewed journal published by Priory Medical Journals - priory.com. |
www.priory.com |
  |
Entrez PubMed |
PubMed is a service of the US National Library of Medicine that includes over 16 million citations from MEDLINE and other life science journals for ... |
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov |
  |
Stanford University School of Medicine |
Home Page of the Stanford University School of Medicine. |
med.stanford.edu |
  |
Medicine OnLine |
Meds.com offers medical information and education on cancer (lung cancer, colon cancer, breast cancer, leukemia) and HIV / AIDS for patients, ... |
www.meds.com |
  |
|