Infectious pain drug to be taken off market as unsafe

Risk of heart symptoms in all pain killers

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Bextra, a medicine used to treat infectious pain, is to be withdrawn from sale. The drug manufacturer Pfizer agreed on the move with the European Agency for the Evaluation of Medical Products (EMEA), after indications that it posed a risk of cardiovascular symptoms.
      Bextra is a COX-2 inhibitor, or coxib, which is a type of drug used by about 75,000 people in Finland.
      The National Agency for Medicines urges patients who use Bextra to discuss options with their doctors.
     
The ban comes after an international study released this year indicating that patients who have had a bypass operation who use the drug experienced a sharp rise in their risk of heart symptoms.
      Other COX-2 inhibitors still on the market include Arcox and Celebra, as well as the intravenously taken Dynastat. Tapani Vuola, head physician at the National Agency for Medicines, does not believe that they pose an immediate risk to public health, although they are being investigated for possible cardiovascular implications.
      He said that non-prescription drugs would also be evaluated, but that the risks are much lower in small doses, and when used irregularly.
      An upcoming EMEA report is to examine the whole class of coxib drugs. Last autumn, another coxib, Vioxx, was taken off the market for similar reasons.
      Pfizer agreed on the end of sales of Bextra first with officials of the United States, and later, Europe.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Article in medical journal criticises "unethical" marketing of medicines (1.4.2005)

Helsingin Sanomat