Studies on Vioxx
Researchers
believe that the risk of cardiovascular problems, including heart attack,
stroke, and blood clots, is more than two times higher in people who
use VIOXX than in people who use traditional arthritis pain treatment.
This conclusion was the result of a study that involved 8,000 patients
comparing COX-2
inhibitor rofecoxib (VIOXX) with the traditional NSAID naproxen.
Among 48,000 patients in an additional study the annual rates of heart attack
in VIOXX was higher than the regular population. Fifty two percent of those
patients taking an inactive placebo pill had a heart attack every year, while
the annual rate of heart attack was seventy four percent for patients taking
VIOXX type drugs (part of the rofecoxib group drugs).
Merck, the maker of Vioxx, conducted a survey that found that patients
taking that medication had four times as many heart attacks as patients
taking the arthritis painkiller naproxen. As a result, an FDA advisory
committee is now wary of the COX-2 selective
NSAIDs. Top of Page |
