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Article: Pain relief at a price.(Celebrex and Vioxx)
- Article from:
- U.S. News & World Report
- Article date:
- September 3, 2001
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2001 All rights reserved. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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It was a painful week for Celebrex and Vioxx, two drugs that have enjoyed booming sales to arthritics and weekend athletes since their introduction in 1999. A new study in the Journal of the American Medical Association suggested that the drugs may significantly raise the risk of a heart attack, possibly because they tend to increase blood pressure. The charge was all the more alarming given that the majority of arthritis sufferers are over 65 and are more likely to suffer heart problems as it is. And rheumatoid arthritis itself raises cardiovascular risk.
Arthritis sufferers have enthusiastically gobbled up the drugs, which belong to a new class of medications ...