Loss of Vioxx Leads to Increased Pain For Arthritis Sufferers :: Interviews Prescription Drugs Papers

Loss of Vioxx Leads to Increased Pain For Arthritis Sufferers The consequences of Kevin Swearingen’s two-story fall in 1988 were more diverse and long term than expected. The 41-year-old construction worker sustained a spinal injury that left him with arthritis on the inside of his spinal column causing him pain, frustration, and depression. â€Å"After I recovered [from the fall] I had to keep working, but at a much lower pay scale since going back to construction work was impossible,† Swearingen said. Dealing with the pain, inability to work and play with his kids, he fell into a depression. â€Å"I was an emotional mess. I was drinking to kill the pain and I was contemplating suicide,† he said. It wasn’t until Swearingen began taking Vioxx that things began to look up. â€Å"It gave me much of my life back. I could play with the kids on better pain days and it greatly reduced the pain on the bad days.† Vioxx is a Cox-2 nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) that cuts down on pain, stiffness and swelling by reducing the production of prostaglandins which help the brain read messages of pain from the body. Other popular cox-2 inhibitors include Celebrex and Bextra. â€Å"Vioxx and Celebrex were developed for those who had stomach problems like ulcers and bleeding,† Dr. Bukowski from Boston’s Brigham and Women’s hospital said. Swearingen having suffered an ulcer at age twelve was put on Vioxx after being diagnosed with Osteoarthritis at age 26. Merck, the drug manufacturer, took Vioxx off the market last September after studies revealed the drug caused complications of heart problems in users. When taken off the market, some 80 million patients who have used it were affected. According to the New England Journal of Medicine, it was the â€Å"largest prescription-drug withdrawal in history.† Many arthritis sufferers such as Swearingen were distressed with Merck’s decision. The trial revealing heart risks associated with Vioxx was conducted by an independent data safety monitoring board (DSMB). The Adenomatous Polyp Prevention on Vioxx (APPROV) trial revealed that Vioxx did in fact pose heart risks. 3.5 percent of the 2600 patients using the Vioxx had suffered myocardial infractions or strokes compared to the 1.9 percent who took a placebo pill. The trial’s goal was not to test Vioxx’s safety, but rather to test it’s effectiveness in preventing colorectal polyps in patients with a history of colorectal adenomas. The trial was stopped prematurely once these statistics were discovered.