Painkiller Bextra

Painkiller Bextra
pulled from market

Drug increases heart attack
and stroke risk, says FDA

WASHINGTON - The painkiller Bextra was taken off the market Thursday, and the government wants similar prescription drugs to carry the strongest possible warnings about increased risk of heart attack and stroke among the millions of people who rely on them.

Pfizer Inc. suspended sales of Bextra in the United States and the European Union at the request of the Food and Drug Administration and European regulators. The company said that the FDA, in seeking Bextra’s withdrawal, cited a risk of serious, sometimes fatal, skin reactions to Bextra on top of the risks shared by other similar drugs.

At issue are a broad class of painkillers known as nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, or NSAIDS. Bextra is a particular type of NSAID known as a Cox-2 inhibitor, a class of blockbuster sellers particularly popular among arthritis sufferers until a competitor — Vioxx — was pulled off the market last fall. That sparked questions about the safety of all similar drugs