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Bextra is a Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drug (NSAID) that falls into the “COX-2 Inhibitor” category and is used to mainly treat the problems associated with arthritis and other inflammation-related conditions. An NSAID is one of any number of common drugs that doctors prescribe to relieve mild to moderate pain and swelling common to injuries, fevers, and a variety of physical conditions. Unfortunately, NSAIDS generally cause severe stomach irritation because of the harsh acids that many use as their active ingredients. This led scientists to pursue a drug which both relieved the pain of arthritis without causing potentially fatal stomach bleeding and ulcers, and drug makers scrambled to corner the potentially explosive market.
Unfortunately, this rush to market caused a failure to anticipate the potentially dangerous side effects of Bextra. Like other COX-2 Inhibitors, Bextra soon proved to increase the amount of cardiovascular problems in users, such as heart attack and stroke. Furthermore, even though Bextra was designed to eliminate the occurrence of gastrointestinal discomfort, some patients still experience severe pain and bleeding in the stomach. Even worse, there were reports of violent skin irritation with Bextra, sometimes resulting in fatal allergic reactions.
The final blow came in April 2005, when the United States Food and Drug Administration asked Pfizer, the company who developed Bextra, to voluntarily withdraw the potentially dangerous drug from the market. Even though Pfizer “respectfully disagreed” with the agency’s ruling, they nevertheless removed Bextra not only from American markets, but from European ones as well.
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