What Your Doctor May Not Be Telling You About Celebrex
For millions of Americans living with arthritis and acute pain, anything that can help them manage their symptoms and improve the quality of their life is very important.
If your doctor has prescribed Celebrex for you, you should be sure to understand that while it may provide you with some relief from arthritis pain, it can be dangerous to other bodily systems, and its use should be approached with caution.
What is Celebrex and what does it do?
Arthritis happens when an injury, infection, trauma, age or other cause affects a joint in the body, and the joint becomes inflamed and painful. Celebrex is a “COX-2 selective inhibitor,” which means that it works by reducing an enzyme in the body, called COX-2, which causes inflammation.
Anti-inflammatory drugs as a group have caused severe ulcers in the stomach and intestines, sometimes deadly. When Celebrex came onto the market, its manufacturer, Pfizer, Inc., promoted it to doctors and patients by suggesting that it was safer, and would not have these dangerous side effects. Unfortunately, research demonstrated that this was not the case.
Celebrex may cause severe ulcers and bleeding in the stomach and intestines.
In a year-long, early study, Celebrex was found to be no safer for the stomach than other drugs already on the market, including over-the-counter pain remedies like ibuprofen and aspirin. Multiple state court cases alleged that Pfizer employees hid the results of this study on adverse reactions of Celebrex. Additionally, they made false claims in advertising and marketing campaigns that this study showed Celebrex was safer than other drugs and planned to attack the study before it was even finished. Emails and other internal Pfizer documents provided evidence to support these claims.1
Celebrex also may be dangerous to your heart
According to research by the American Heart Association, Celebrex increases the risk of heart attack by as much as 86%. According to Dr. Elliott Antman, professor at Harvard Medical School, and spokesman for the American Heart Association, “It is not a safe drug. It is not a drug we should turn to as a first line treatment for management of pain in a patient with heart disease. We’re actually recommending that it be the last line of treatment.”2
Two more drugs in this same group of COX-2 inhibitors, Vioxx and Bextra, were taken off the market because their side effects could include heart attacks and severely bleeding ulcers. In 2005, the FDA issued its strongest adverse effect warning, a “black box” warning that Celebrex can also cause some of these same adverse reactions. The FDA also ordered Pfizer to complete a new study on the safety of Celebrex, but Pfizer hasn’t completed that study and won’t until 2014, the year the Celebrex patent expires.3
There does not appear to be sufficient evidence that Celebrex is any safer or more effective than other, cheaper remedies. Thirty-four states and the District of Columbia have sued Pfizer over false claims of Celebrex and Bextra’s effectiveness, as well as false and deceptive advertising practices which included marketing the drugs for treatments which were not approved by the FDA (called “off-label marketing), and for withholding information on severe adverse side effects, including heart attack, stroke and death in patients taking these drugs.4
What if I want to stop taking Celebrex?
Talk to your doctor first. It is never advisable to stop taking a medication prescribed by your doctor without discussing it with your doctor first. If you are taking Celebrex and want to stop taking it, your doctor can advise the safest way to do this and help you find alternatives that best serve your condition.
Learn everything that you can about Celebrex before you start taking it.
Back to Articles
1 New York Times, “In Documents on Pain Drug, Signs of Doubt and Deception,” 24 June 2012 (http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/25/health/in-documents-on-pain-drug-celebrex-signs-of-doubt-and-deception.html )
2 CNBC, “Pfizer’s Celebrex Should Be ‘Last Resort,’ Heart Group Says”; 26 Feb 2007 (http://www.cnbc.com/id/17349356/Pfizer’s_Celebrex_Should_Be_Last_Resort_Heart_Group_Says )
3 U.S. Food and Drug Administration, “Public Health Advisory – FDA Announces Important Changes and Additional Warnings for COX-2 Selective and Non-Selective Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs (NSAIDs), ” 4/7/2005; http://www.fda.gov/Drugs/DrugSafety/PostmarketDrugSafetyInformationforPatientsandProviders/ucm150314.htm
4 Oregon Dept of Justice, “AG Myers Files Judgment Against Pfizer for $60Million Concerning Its Marketing of Drugs Celebrex and Bextra,” 22 Oct 2008 (http://www.doj.state.or.us/releases/2008/rel102208.shtml )