For 70 million arthritis sufferers, the past few months have been a nightmare. The medicines they rely on to ease their aches and pains have come under fire.

First, Merck withdrew its popular arthritis drug Vioxx because it increased the risk of heart attacks and strokes.

Then the Food and Drug Administration required a black-box warning about serious skin reactions and cardiovascular risks associated with the prescription pain reliever Bextra.

Next, the National Cancer Institute stopped a clinical trial of Celebrex prematurely because patients taking this medicine had a higher rate of heart attacks and strokes.

There was even bad news about over-the-counter naproxen (Aleve). The National Institutes of Health stopped an Alzheimer’s prevention trial early because patients on naproxen had a higher incidence of heart attacks and strokes.

Celebrex, Bextra and Vioxx were supposed to be safer than older nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs). People taking medicines like aspirin, ibuprofen, naproxen, diclofenac or sulindac are at greater risk of serious digestive-tract reactions. Experts estimate that more than 100,000 people are hospitalized every year with ulcers, and more than 16,000 die from complications.

That’s why doctors and patients were excited about COX-2 inhibitors like Celebrex and Vioxx. These drugs were supposed to spare the GI tract. But now an FDA safety officer estimates that as many as 139,000 people may have suffered heart attacks as a consequence of these drugs.

What’s an arthritis patient to do? Many people are considering nondrug approaches to relieve their stiff joints. Although glucosamine and chondroitin have never received FDA approval, there are a number of studies suggesting that these dietary supplements can help some people.

Arthritis patients caught in bind

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 26th, 2005 at 10:28 pm and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.