Painkiller Bextra pulled from shelves

Months after Pfizer temporarily pulled the arthritis drug Celebrex from its shelves because of an increased risk of heart attacks, the company has yanked another drug from distribution. On Thursday, the painkiller Bextra was taken off the market in the United States and the European Union. The Food and Drug Administration noted that users of a number of Bextra users had serious, sometimes fatal, skin reactions to the drug.

Bextra belongs in the class of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, or NSAIDs. Bextra is part of a class of NSAIDs known as a Cox-2 inhibitor. Cox-2 inhibitors were also used in another painkiller that received unwanted attention, Merck’s Vioxx. The Vioxx scare sparked interest in increasing awareness and safety of such medication.

Celebrex is still on the market. However, the FDA wants all prescription NSAIDs to carry warning labels about the increased risk of cardiovascular side effects. Bextra was singled out by the FDA because of the side effect to skin. Researchers are still unsure whether there is enough information to determine if one prescription painkiller is safer than the other. The FDA is also asking manufacturers of non-prescription NSAIDs to carry revised and strengthened warning labels.

The government is now telling people to consult their doctors and take the lowest possible dose. Pfizer recommends people to stop taking Bextra but disputes the FDA ruling that Bextra is too risky to sell. In February, the FDA was less confident about Bextra than Celebrex and Vioxx. Bextra, also known by the name valdecoxib, had been approved by the FDA in 2001.