Celebrex safety concern good news for Vioxx victims

The recent announcement by Pfizer that Celebrex also has heart risks (along with a stronger warning about side effects of Bextra) means that arthritis patients have hardly any choice left, but insofar as their class action lawsuits against Merck are considered, this may be great news.

Vioxx attorneys are still digesting the new revelations and assessing how it will affect their legal strategy and a lot will depend on what happens next week when FDA announces its decision whether to recall Celebrex, but there is much stronger evidence now that all drugs in the Cox-2 category (Vioxx, Celebrex, and Bextra) increase the risk of heart attack. (Related article: Vioxx recall focuses attention on all Cox-2 inhibitor drugs)

It may be pointed out that Merck has been relentlessly attacking Vioxx victims during last week or so, primarily to discourage them for filing class action lawsuits against the firm. The main argument that the company has used against awarding class action status to Vioxx lawsuits is that there is no commonality in the cases. In other words, Merck is arguing that Vioxx was not the problem, the people who had heart attacks (or died due to a heart condition) may have other reasons (e.g. smoking, obesity, etc.) for their heart illness. Of course this line of argument incensed Vioxx victims though many victims were also completely scared by Merck's aggressive approach.

The recent announcements about Celebrex and Bextra strengthen the arguments of Vioxx victims that Cox-2 family of drugs have an inherent problem and the drug manufacturers and the FDA were all wrong in giving approval to these drugs. That is what German authorities are arguing as they have restricted prescription of all Vioxx and Celebrex type drugs.

In the meantime, Vioxx victims should simply stay calm and let the events unfold. It is becoming increasingly apparent that drug companies may have dug a massive hole for themselves by hiding unpleasant facts about Vioxx and Celebrex. If so, Vioxx victims have a strong case now to prove that they knowingly harmed the health of hundreds of thousands of people worldwide and caused tens of thousands of deaths.

Recommended article: Vioxx recall facts must come out before attorneys bring the lawsuits to trial