Bextra recall seems to help Celebrex sales
As was expected, after the recall of Bextra, Pfizer's other Cox-2 drug Celebrex has grabbed roughly a third of Bextra's prescriptions while Mobic, a pain reliever marketed by Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH and Abbott Laboratories Inc., has captured around 26%. For the week ended May 6, Celebrex picked up 34 percent of Bextra's prescriptions, according to Verispan, a market research company that tracks drug data. A week earlier, it grabbed 32%. (Read previous article: Bextra recall is no gain for Celebrex)
Overall sales of Cox-2 drugs, however, are down as risks of Cox-2 inhibitor drugs are declining due to their cardiovascular risks. Arthritis patients have switcher to other NSAID or are looking at other pain relief options.
In the meantime, Pfizer, that has been hurt after the recall of Bextra and a black box warning on Celebrex, is agreeing to make changes in its direct-to-consumer advertising practices for prescription drugs. Hank McKinnell, the CEO of Pfizer, is quoted by Diedtra Henderson as saying that the firm would agree to submit all drug advertising for advance review by FDA. It may be noted that Pfizer was warned for its misleading advertising related to Celebrex and Bextra.
McKinnell also said that Pfizer is still working with the FDA to change the black-box warning label on Celebrex to point out the dangers more clearly. He added that after that they will try to convince FDA to bring Bextra back on the market. This decision will be very controversial since many medical experts believe that there is a problem with the whole class of Cox-2 inhibitor drugs. Dr. David Graham, the FDA expert, actually believes that Vioxx should have never been approved.
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