Another arthritis painkiller - Prexige - made by Novartis - has caused fatalities

Doctors warned over arthritis drug after two die in Australia - Guardian

Extracts:

"Health campaigners last night urged doctors to be wary of prescribing an arthritis drug after concerns over its safety and an order to ban it in Australia following reports of liver damage. UK and European drug regulators are reviewing the safety data on the painkiller, Prexige, after eight cases of serious liver damage in Australia, including two fatalities.

There are concerns because Prexige is in the same class of drugs as Vioxx, the painkiller withdrawn worldwide in 2004 after being linked to heart attacks and strokes."

"In the UK approximately 5,400 patients have received one or more prescriptions for Prexige, made by the drugs company Novartis, in the last year.

Vioxx, which was manufactured by a separate drugs company, Merck, was used by 84 million patients worldwide, 400,000 of them in Britain. It was withdrawn after trials suggested it might nearly double the risk of heart attacks and strokes.

The class of drugs which includes Prexige and Vioxx is known as Cox-2 selective inhibitors. They are a relatively new type of anti-inflammatory medicine which is thought to produce fewer gastro-intestinal side effects than older non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, which include ibuprofen. Since the Vioxx crisis they have been under surveillance by medicines watchdogs."

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