Rheumatoid arthritis patients who took supertherapeutic doses of rofecoxib for pain experienced fewer than half as many significant upper GI events as patients taking standard doses of naproxen.
The results of the large prospective study, funded by Merck, the manufacturer of rofecoxib (Vioxx), were released at the annual Digestive Disease Week.
Merck plans to submit the study results to the Food and Drug Administration to seek an indication for rofecoxib for rheurnatoid artbritis. It is already approved for osteoarthritis, acute pain, and menstrual pain.
Symptomatic ulcers, perforation, obstruction, and bleeding were 54% less common in patients assigned to take a supertherapeutic dose of rofecoxib than in patients taking standard doses of naproxen.
Related Results
Arthritis Drug from Merck Has New Look.
AstraZeneca Licenses Pozen Tech as Part of Pain-Drug Project and Sanofi-Avent…
POZEN Receives Approval for MT 100 in the United Kingdom
Celebrex gets another indication.(Pfizer Inc. gets approval)(Brief Article)
Report: Heart Attack Risks, Pain Relief Similar for Most Osteoarthritis Drugs
Upper GI events considered to be “complicated,” a category that included perforation, obstruction, or major bleeding episodes, were 57% lower in patients who were taking rofecoxib during the trial.
The relative risk of an upper GI event was 62% lower in patients on the COX-2 inhibitor, said Dr. Loren Lame, cochair of the randomized study of some 8,000 patients.
COPYRIGHT 2000 International Medical News Group
COPYRIGHT 2008 Gale, Cengage Learning