New worries leave arthritis drugs tarnished

WASHINGTON — One by one, arthritis drugs that promised to ease pain without causing ulcers are losing their luster.

In September, Merck & Co. yanked Vioxx from the market when a trial showed that long-term use of the painkiller nearly doubled the risk of heart attack and stroke. A congressional hearing next Thursday will examine whether Merck and the government ignored safety concerns.

This week, researchers said a preliminary study indicated that Bextra — another painkiller in the same class — also more than doubled the risk of heart attacks and strokes among patients with heart disease.

Pfizer Inc., which manufactures Bextra, said researchers made “unsubstantiated conclusions” during their presentation at the annual meeting of the American Heart Association in New Orleans. The company also said the research was “based on information that has not been published in a medical journal or subject to independent scientific review.”

The news sent a ripple through the meeting and caused the company’s stock to tumble.

Pfizer already has told regulators it will add to its packaging a black box warning, the most strident alert, to warn consumers of a potentially fatal skin reaction linked to Bextra.

Scientists renewed a call for more studies of the painkillers in patients with heart disease, the group likely to suffer the most harm from this class of drugs known as cox-2 inhibitors. For clinicians at Kaiser Permanente, which serves 8.3 million patients, the Bextra study already has prompted discussion of safer alternatives. And some pressured the Food and Drug Administration to halt advertising directed at consumers.