The 24,000-patient study of arthritis drugs showed individuals assigned to take Celebrex experienced fewer heart-related deaths, heart attacks and strokes than those taking ibuprofen or naproxen, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Celebrex, ibuprofen and naproxen represent three of the more than two dozen available medicines known as nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. Controversy over the safety of Celebrex developed in 2004 when Kenilworth, N.J.-based Merck pulled its drug Vioxx off the market after a study linked theNSAID drug to an increased risk of heart attack.
While Pfizer was forced to remove a similar type of drug from the market, the Food and Drug Administration allowed the New York City-based drugmaker to continue marketing Celebrex as long as it conducted a study of the drug’s effect on heart risk, according to the report.
After more than 10 years, the study’s results show “exactly opposite of what everybody thought it would be,” said Steven Nissen, MD, chief of cardiovascular medicine at the Cleveland Clinic and lead investigator of the study, reported WSJ.
Despite the study’s findings, Dr. Nissen reminded patients any NSAID can harm a patient’s heart and said, “Take the lowest dose you can for the shortest time you can.”
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