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STANFORD, Calif. — A widely-available anti-inflammatory prescription drug can reduce the risk of a common skin cancer in humans, according to a researcher at Stanford's School of Medicine. Although oral administration of the drug, celecoxib, is associated with an increased risk of heart attack and stroke in some people, it's possible that topical application could have a safer, protective effect for people prone to developing the cancers, called basal cell carcinomas, the researcher believes. "Basal cell carcinomas are the most common human cancer in the United States," said Jean Tang, MD, PhD, assistant professor of dermatology, "and their incidence is...

DALLAS - Walking is just fine with 58-year-old Mary Cecil, who used to be an avid runner. "I was running and I started feeling pain in my left leg, and it was also tender when I slept on that side," she said. Cecil suspected a shin splint or pulled muscle. A bone scan, however, revealed a rare and aggressive tumor called dedifferentiated chondrosarcoma. The bone cancer is virtually unstudied. According to limited information, only one in 10 diagnosed with it survive two years. "Very scary," recalled Cecil of how she felt upon learning of the diagnosis. "The world just turned...

AP (CHICAGO) — Results from a large government experiment are dimming hopes that two common painkillers can prevent Alzheimer's disease or slow mental decline in older people. The arthritis drug Celebrex and the over-the-counter painkiller Aleve showed no benefit on thinking skills, new findings show. Earlier results from the same research showed the two drugs didn't prevent Alzheimer's, at least in the short term. The experiment was halted several years early in 2004 when heart risks turned up in a separate study on Celebrex. Researchers also had noticed more heart attacks and strokes in the people taking Aleve in the...

Brigham Young University has accused pharmaceutical giant Pfizer of cheating the school out of profits and credit for the development of Celebrex, a blockbuster anti-inflammatory drug that has earned the company billions of dollars. The lawsuit was filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Salt Lake City against Pfizer and several of its predecessor companies after years of unsuccessful negotiations, BYU said. The suit seeks unspecified actual and punitive damages, but notes Celebrex sales have exceeded $20 billion. It also seeks corrections in 75 patents in order to credit Professor Daniel L. Simmons for his discoveries. The suit alleges Simmons...

Associated Press WASHINGTON — Is a drug that might lower the risk of colon cancer worth taking if it also raises the risk of heart problems? That's a question people most likely to develop the deadly bowel disease may be asking after the latest research on the popular arthritis drug Celebrex. Two studies found the drug cut the chances of developing precancerous growths called polyps by 33 percent to 45 percent in people who already had had such growths removed. However, experts said the extra heart problems seen in those taking the drug mean it can't be recommended for preventing...

  PharmaceuticalsSaving CelebrexMatthew Herper, 12.13.05, 3:00 PM ET On Aug. 22, the Monday after Merck was slammed with a multimillion-dollar verdict in the first trial related to Vioxx, Pfizer brought a team of academic researchers to meet with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to discuss a gigantic clinical trial to try to prove that low doses of Celebrex do not pose the same heart attack and stroke risk that Vioxx does. The talks were left unfinished then, but now just such a trial is being announced. The big surprise: Pfizer (nyse: PFE - news - people ) has...

Pfizer BrandsPrescription Aricept® (donepezil hydrochloride tablets) Bextra® (valdecoxib) Celebrex® (celecoxib) Lipitor® (atorvastatin calcium) tablets Relpax® (eletriptan HBr) Viagra® (sildenafil citrate) tablets Viracept® (nelfinavir mesylate) Xalatan® (latanoprost ophthalmic solution) Zoloft® (sertraline HCl) Zyrtec® (cetirizine HCl) Over-the-Counter Brands Benadryl Listerine Mouthwash Listerine PocketPaks Neosporin Purell Rogaine Rolaids Sudafed Visine Zantac Lets face it, if Pfizer had not wanted the land, then the SC never would have made the ruling. Hit Pfizer where it hurts, in the pocketbook.

Can a dietary supplement pick up the pieces? Glucosamine, often recommended for joint pain, is one of the most popular supplements on the market. And considering the health concerns recently associated with nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory medications, I thought it would be worth looking into whether glucosamine lives up to the hype.Background: Glucosamine and chondroitin are often combined together and used to treat osteoarthritis (OA), which occurs when the cartilage covering the end of the bone near the joint breaks down. OA affects the knees, backs, hips, hands and feet of more than 21 million people over age 45. And, according to...

It’s common for the major TV networks to run news stories that rewrite those that appeared in that day’s New York Times. It’s rarer to see a major news show resort to running press releases for advocacy organizations. Friday, ABC’s World News Tonight managed to do both.

Fri Feb 25, 4:03 PM ET A study by the Center for Science in the Public Interest indicates that 10 of the 32 panel members had ties to either Pfizer Inc. or Merck & Co., ranging from consulting fees and speaking honoraria to research support. The FDA issued a statement saying it screened members of the panel for conflicts of interest. "This transparent process requires the agency to carefully weigh any potential financial interest with the need for essential scientific expertise in order to protect and advance the public health," the agency said. After three days of hearings on the...

After a panel of medical experts gave a very cautious nod to the continued use of the painkillers Celebrex, Vioxx and Bextra on Friday, pain management experts said they expected to see the same caution transform the way the painkillers are prescribed from now on. The drugs, which had been hugely popular for people with both short-term and chronic pain, will be prescribed much less readily, for a smaller group of patients, at lower doses and for shorter periods, the experts said. "I am still very concerned about the cardiac risks of these medications," said Dr. David Campen, director of...

WASHINGTON, Feb. 18 - A federal drug advisory panel unanimously agreed today that the huge-selling painkillers Celebrex, Bextra and Vioxx cause worrisome heart problems, but its members voted to recommend that all three nonetheless be available to patients, accompanied by strong warnings of the risks. The panel only narrowly supported the continued marketing of Pfizer's Bextra or the return of Merck's Vioxx, voting 17-13 on Bextra and 17-15 on Vioxx. The panel was much more comfortable supporting the continued marketing of Celebrex, favoring the Pfizer painkiller 31-1. The Food and Drug Administration, which has the final word on the regulation...

WASHINGTON - Advisers to the Food and Drug Administration (news - web sites) concluded Friday the popular painkiller Celebrex poses an increased risk for heart problems but should remain on the market because the benefits outweigh the dangers. The panelists suggested a number of possible restrictions, including placing a "black box" warning on the label warning of the potential dangers and who's at risk, providing more patient information with the drug, restricting which patients could get it and banning direct-to-consumer advertising for Celebrex. The FDA is not bound to follow any of the recommendations. If it does decide to keep...

As a person who can use no other anti-inflamatory drug I would appreciate some assistance in telling the FDA that "Public Citizen" does not represent me, or I am sure millions of others who take (or took) these drugs properly, under proper medical supervision and with the full knowledge and awareness that ALL drugs have effects that are not known at this time. Public Citizen is calling for a complete ban of these drugs because of an increased risk of "heart problems" from taking these drugs. I have never heard of this group and prefer to make my own, informed,...

Two studies released yesterday have turned up new evidence that all of the popular arthritis painkillers known as COX-2 inhibitors may put users at greater risk of heart attacks and strokes. The first of the two papers published online by the journal Circulation found that patients who had had heart bypass surgery and were taking Pfizer Inc.'s Bextra and another experimental COX-2 inhibitor were three times more likely to have strokes and heart attacks than patients taking a placebo. The statistically significant tripling of the risk showed up when researchers combined the results of two earlier studies involving more than...

When Audrey Eisen flicked her computer on last Monday night and read the news that the painkiller Aleve had been linked to heart attacks, she winced in disbelief. Ms. Eisen, 64, a retired professor who lives in New York, had just returned from her drugstore with a package of Aleve. Her pharmacist allowed her to return it the next morning, no questions asked. It was the third painkiller in four months that Ms. Eisen, who has degenerative spine and disk disease, had quit abruptly because of studies linking the drugs to heart attacks. She flushed her Vioxx down the toilet...

The Painkiller Panic - Needed: A rational discussion on Vioxx, Celebrex and Aleve. Sunday, December 26, 2004 12:01 a.m. EST If there's silver lining to the sudden rash of unsettling news about painkillers, it's that just maybe it will force the American body politic to think twice about whether it really wants to destroy the pharmaceutical industry through an excess of litigation and reactionary over-regulation. If it were just Vioxx that caused occasional cardiovascular problems, after all, it would be easier to convince the ignorant and the opportunistic--i.e., likely jurors and Congressmen--that the FDA and the drug industry had erred...

Researchers Assess Risk-Benefit Ratio The spate of bad news about painkillers has dealt a major setback to what had been a highly promising effort to use the drugs to prevent a host of leading killers, including many types of cancer, Alzheimer's and other forms of dementia. Since concerns emerged that drugs such as Vioxx and Celebrex might cause heart attacks and strokes, researchers testing the drugs in dozens of studies have been frantically scouring whatever data they have gathered so far for signs of danger, urgently debating whether the trials should continue, and quickly informing participants of possible risks. Several...

In the fall, my Vioxx patients fled to Celebrex. Last week they fled to Aleve. This week they don't know what to do. Now that it was discovered that patients taking naproxen (Aleve) for three years had a 50 percent increased risk of heart disease, my patients want to know if any arthritis drug is safe. I tell them that all these drugs are probably safe — if taken for the right reasons and if judiciously prescribed. I tell them that the increased risk of heart disease is due to taking these drugs at high doses over a prolonged period...

WASHINGTON - An Alzheimer's disease prevention trial was suspended after researchers said there were more heart attacks and strokes among patients taking naproxen, an over-the-counter pain reliever in use for 28 years and commonly known under the brand name Aleve. The study, involving some 2,500 patients, was to test whether naproxen or Celebrex, both pain relievers, could reduce the risk of Alzheimer's disease among healthy elderly patients who were at an increased risk of the disease. Officials at the National Institutes of Health said the study was suspended after three years when it was found that patients taking naproxen had...