An important, yet underpublicized, study among the hundreds presented at this week’s European Society of Cardiology conference held in London was “The Standard Care versus Celecoxib Outcome Trial” (SCOT). As you may recall, Merck took Vioxx, its COX-2 inhibiting pain reliever, off the market in 2004 for concerns over increased cardiovascular events such as heart attacks and strokes. Shortly thereafter, the FDA held a three day Advisory Committee meeting in Washington, DC, to assess the potential that this was a class effect of COX-2 inhibitors and not just specific to Vioxx. A major revelation at this meeting was that ALL non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) – including popular drugs such as ibuprofen and diclofenac, not just COX-2 inhibitors — have the potential of increasing cardiovascular events. As a result of these deliberations, Celebrex remained on the market, but the labels of these drugs were changed to reflect this risk.
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