Sounds like advertising to me... ;-<
In message <00f301c4a7f5$991f7be0$0d00000a@dylan>, Jeff Green
<[log in to unmask]> writes
>NEW YORK, Sept. 30 /CNW/ - In response to Merck & Co.'s announcement
>today of the worldwide withdrawal of its COX-2 medicine Vioxx, Pfizer Inc
>issued the following statement:
> Over 27 million patients in the United States have been prescribed
>Celebrex (celecoxib), which was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug
>Administration in 1998.
> "Pfizer is confident in the long-term cardiovascular safety of
>Celebrex,"
>said Dr. Joe Feczko, Pfizer's president of worldwide development.
> In a recent FDA-sponsored study of 1.4 million patients, those who
>received Celebrex demonstrated no increased risk of cardiac events.
> "Patients taking COX-2 inhibitors may be confused and should speak with
>their doctors," Dr. Feczko said. "Because of its outstanding long-term
>safety
>profile and broad indication base including osteoarthritis, rheumatoid
>arthritis and acute pain, Celebrex is an appropriate treatment alternative."
> Celebrex was the first COX-2 inhibitor, a class of medicine designed to
>relieve pain without the serious gastrointestinal side effects associated
>with
>older non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medicines. In 2001, Pfizer introduced
>Bextra (valdecoxib), its second COX-2 inhibitor, for use in osteoarthritis
>and
>rheumatoid arthritis. Bextra's cardiovascular safety profile is also well
>established in long-term studies.
> Data show that since the introduction of COX-2 inhibitors, the rate of
>hospitalizations for gastrointestinal events associated with long-term
>arthritis treatment has declined significantly.
>
>===================================================
>But other data (from Canada) show how they have dramatically INCREASED
>since the availability of coxibs:
>
>http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/short/328/7453/1415
>
>================================================
>"significant and consistent gastrointestinal benefit of COX-2 inhibitors
>compared with conventional NSAIDs has not been demonstrated."
>(European Agency for the Evaluation of Medicinal Products: Committee
>for Proprietary Medicinal Products. 20th. November 2003)
>==============================================
>"Simple paracetamol is a recommended treatment for symptoms of
>osteoarthritis, so a large study of the effects of full dose oral
>paracetamol on arthritic knees that fails to show a significant
>difference between treatment and placebo is a bit surprising. The
>percentage of responders in both groups was the same (52%). The main
>positive finding was that treatment caused no serious side effects (
>Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases 2004;63: 923-30[Abstract/Free Full
>Text]). "
>
>http://makeashorterlink.com/?R11522A69
>===============================================
>
>Best of luck
>
>Regards
>
>Jeff
>
--
Mary Hawking
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