Pfizer halted advertising of Celebrex soon after
Vioxx, a similar arthritis drug manufactured by Merck & Co., was withdrawn from the market in 2004.
Vioxx was made at a factory just yards from Maureen's home in Cramlington, and was used by 400,000 people in the UK to treat pain and inflammation in osteo-arthritis and rheumatoid arthritis.
He points out that
Vioxx advertising led to small increases in prescribing for both
Vioxx and Celebrex.
But clearly not just because of
Vioxx; negative trends in product liability have been ongoing for years.
The second regression model explains the number of prescriptions for
Vioxx and Celebrex that physician practices wrote each month.
From the start, Merck embraced a strategy of foregoing settlement and trying
Vioxx cases.
I was shocked when I heard the stories about
Vioxx. It's frightening to think at the time I was taking this drug it might not have been doing my heart much good."
Like
Vioxx, many of the drugs we rely on, including aspirin, can cause serious side effects.
While no one would expect this problem to just go away--it is kind of interesting to find
Vioxx making the headlines once again--nearly 12 months later.
In his book, Overdosed America, John Abramson, M.D., a member of the clinical faculty at Harvard Medical School, details what he calls the "misrepresentation of Celebrex and
Vioxx." He also analyzes similar deceptions with many other drugs and medical procedures that are commonly used in healthcare today and shows how lowering the use of unnecessary and often dangerous drugs and procedures would lead to massive cost savings and better healthcare.
Last week, an American court awarded pounds 141 million to the widow of a US man who died after taking
Vioxx. The Texas jury ruled pharmaceutical giant Merck responsible for the death of Robert Ernst.
Merck withdrew the arthritis treatment from the market when its own study showed
Vioxx doubled the risk of heart attack or stroke when taken for at least 18 months.