Vioxx Withdrawal Alarms Cancer Prevention Researchers

Extract

Thanks to a colon cancer prevention study, millions of arthritis sufferers lost a favorite pain reliever. Is that good news or bad? Good news certainly for the patients who no longer face unreasonable risks for heart attack and stroke; bad news, potentially, if the Vioxx debacle drains the chemoprevention drug pipeline.

The study isn't the first to reveal side effects of a promising chemoprevention agent, and it probably won't be the last. Cancer researchers are eager to point out, however, that many approved drugs carry some risks and that the Vioxx case should not deter researchers and pharmaceutical companies from doing the long-term studies needed to show chemopreventive effects.

When Merck withdrew Vioxx (rofecoxib) from the market on September 30, concerns were for arthritis sufferers, the main users of the drug. But the study that showed the increased risk of heart attack and stroke among Vioxx users was a Merck-funded colon cancer chemoprevention trial. As the medical journal editorial pages ran condemnations of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the drug maker for ignoring early signs of trouble, the spotlight quickly widened to include the other COX-2 inhibitors.