Vioxx, also known as refecoxib, is a prescription COX-2 selective, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) that was approved by FDA in May 1999 for the relief of the signs and symptoms of osteoarthritis, for the management of acute pain in adults, and for the treatment of menstrual symptoms.
Vioxx was withdrawn from U.S. drugstores in September 2004 after a Merck study showed that long-term users of the drug had twice the risk of heart attack and stroke.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued warnings that most popular painkillers can hurt the heart, stomach and skin, and they have told pharmaceutical giant Pfizer to withdraw Bextra a top selling painkiller.
Despite an expert panel stating last month that the three COX-2 drugs Vioxx, Bextra and Celebrex were safe enough to be marketed, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has this week told drug manufacturer Pfizer to remove the drug Bextra from the market and a statement by Pfizer confirms that the European Union regulators have done the same.
Members of the second most important family of drugs used to treat rheumatoid arthritis can cause serious dermatological conditions in a quarter of patients under treatment, reveals a study published in the journal Arthritis Research and Therapy.
In the congressional battle over the safety of America's prescription drugs, two University of Washington experts with opposing views have been enlisted into the fray.
International group of pain specialists meets to develop recommendations for the treatment of chronic moderate-to-severe pain in the wake of the global withdrawal of rofecoxib (Vioxx) and concerns regarding use of other COX-2 inhibitors.
Batches of the drugs Paxil CR and Avandamet United States, were seized by marshals at manufacturing and distribution plants in Tennessee and Puerto Rico after federal officials said the manufacturer failed to correct violations of production safety standards.
Sandra L. Kweder, FDA's deputy director for new drugs, wants Congress to issue the FDA with the authority to control labeling for drugs to stop the prolonged disputes on this matter.
Celecoxib, a selective COX-2 inhibitor with promising anti-cancer properties, has now been found to attack prostate cancer cells in a second way that differs from Vioxx (rofecoxib), another anti-inflammatory drug that also inhibits COX-2.
Vioxx, Celebrex and Bextra hit the market in the late 1990s & 2001, as a breakthrough class of drugs for arthritis that would help avoid ulcers and other digestive ailments linked to medicines such as aspirin.
The history of hormone therapy drugs – once thought of as almost magic pills to keep women healthy, vital and young – shows why it is so important to conduct research studies to identify the risks and benefits of drugs, say researchers from Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center.
The federal Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation today granted motions by several parties, including Merck, to transfer all Vioxx product liability lawsuits pending in federal courts nationwide into one consolidated Multidistrict Litigation (MDL) for coordinated pre-trial proceedings.
Tommorow, February 17, John J. Pippin, M.D., FA.C.C., will testify before Food and Drug Administration (FDA) officials and present a new report detailing how experiments on mice, dogs, and other animals misled scientists and ultimately contributed to a tragic outcome for human patients exposed to Vioxx and other drugs.
The largest prospective trial ever examining the anti-inflammatory drug Vioxx as a chemoprevention agent found that the risk of developing a cardiovascular "event" - heart attacks and/or strokes - was almost double in patients who received the drug, compared to patients who took the placebo, according to a study out Feb. 15 on-line in The New England Journal of Medicine.
Laboratory studies at Johns Hopkins have revealed that certain products of the enzymes COX-1 and COX-2 can both protect and damage the brain. The findings, published in the February 2005 issue of the Journal of Neurochemistry, offer tantalizing clues to why drugs like Vioxx and Celebrex, which block COX-2, can ease arthritis but potentially harm the heart and brain.
Adhesions – bands of scar tissue that bind together two internal body surfaces – develop in 55 percent to more than 90 percent of patients undergoing surgery, depending on the type of operation. They are part of normal healing, but when surfaces fuse together that shouldn't, serious pain and complications can result.
The arthritis drug Vioxx could have caused an estimated 88 000–140 000 excess cases of serious coronary heart disease in the USA since its launch in 1999, concludes a study published online by The Lancet.
Daniel H. Solomon, M.D., M.P.H., from Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, and Jerry Avorn, M.D., of Harvard University School of Medicine, write in the January 24 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine that the withdrawal of rofecoxib (Vioxx) from the market in September 2004 by its manufacturer, Merck & Co., “raises many questions concerning drug policy, scientific evidence, and treatment alternatives.
A group of studies published in the January 24 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine add to the growing body of medical literature about the cardiovascular risks that may be associated with the class of pain-relieving drugs known as COX-2 inhibitors.
Physicians should avoid prescribing Bextra altogether, or use it only as a drug of last resort, says a researcher from Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center and colleagues in an editorial published on-line Jan. 17 in Circulation, a publication of the American Heart Association.
In two articles, published in Circulation, researchers from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine provide further evidence for the role of cyclooxygenases (COX) in heart-disease risk.