New Call To Ban Celebrex and Bextra
Feb 1, 2005 | AP A consumer watchdog group is renewing its call that the arthritis drug Celebrex and Bextra be pulled off the market.Public Citizen is claiming drug-maker Pfizer acknowledged that patients given Celebrex in a 1999 study had about four times the risk of heart attack of those taking a placebo.
It wants Celebrex and a similar drug, Bextra, to be withdrawn.
Pfizer has insisted no definitive conclusions could be drawn from the study.
Similar findings surrounding Vioxx prompted manufacturer Merck, to stop selling the pain remedy in September 2004. [ Vioxx pulled ]
All three medications are in a class known as "COX-2 inhibitors," which is under study by the Food and Drug Administration.
