Healthy Skepticism Library item: 787

Warning: This library includes all items relevant to health product marketing that we are aware of regardless of quality. Often we do not agree with all or part of the contents.

Publication type: news

Fulbright L.
Kaiser bans painkiller Bextra
San Francisco Chronicle 2005 Jan 30

Full text:

Kaiser Permanente has banned the distribution of Bextra, a painkiller made by Pfizer Inc. that is widely prescribed for arthritis and could possibly increase the risk of heart attack or stroke.

It is the first time the nation’s largest HMO has refused to dispense a drug approved by the Food and Drug Administration.

Kaiser started the ban last week in its pharmacies after several specialists agreed that Bextra should no longer be prescribed and that existing patients using the drug should use alternatives, officials said.

New prescriptions will stop on Tuesday and refills will end March 1. Kaiser will not dispense the drug for at least six months or until the FDA or Pfizer can provide evidence to support its safety.

“The advantages of these blockbuster drugs have been highly questionable, “ said Beverly Hayon, a Kaiser spokeswoman.

Bextra is a COX-2 inhibitor in the same class of drugs as Celebrex and Vioxx, two other painkillers believed to cause an increased risk of heart attack. Vioxx was pulled from the market in October.

Kaiser officials said the Bextra ban will affect a small number of patients.

“We have been very conservative in dispensing all COX-2 inhibitors,” Hayon said.

Millions of people take Bextra for pain from chronic conditions, such as rheumatoid arthritis.

An FDA arthritis advisory committee will hold public meetings to discuss the benefits and risks of Cox-2 inhibitors Feb. 16-18 in Washington, D.C.