Loading...
The COX-2 inhibitor rofecoxib (Vioxx) was withdrawn from the market recently because of excess cardiovascular morbidity among patients who took the drug for longer than 18 months in a placebo-controlled study of gastrointestinal adenomas. Four years earlier, in a manufacturer-sponsored study of GI events in patients with arthritis (VIGOR), patients who received rofecoxib had a fivefold greater incidence of myocardial infarction than did patients who received naproxen (N Engl J Med 2000; 343:1520), but this difference was attributed to a cardioprotective effect of naproxen, rather than a cardiotoxic effect of rofecoxib.
Independent researchers now have performed a cumulative meta-analysis to determine when evidence of the adverse effects of r…