An FDA advisory panel recently voted 31-1 to allow COX-2 Inhibitor painkillers to remain on the market. COX-2 Inhibitors are manufactured by a number of companies, such as Pfizer’s Celebrex and Bextra or the recently pulled Merck Vioxx. The panel felt that the benefits of the drugs far outweighed the potential risks. They feel the risk versus benefit decision is best left up to the doctor and patient. Once the FDA formally rules on the issue, Merck has said that re-introducing Vioxx to the market is not out of the question.

This decision is a great victory for pharmaceutical companies for liability issues and patients whose lives depend on these drugs for normalcy. Pharmaceutical companies have been under attack lately in sensationalized media stories. What the media fails to report in any of their articles is that every drug on the market has possible side effects/negative consequences. These side effects need to be weighed carefully when starting any new medication. Thousands of people die every year for gastric bleeding caused by some of the older painkillers currently on the market, like aspirin. There is no public outcry for aspirin to be pulled from the market, why I that? One possible reason is that the media has no latched onto the story and blown it out of proportion as it did with the COX-2 problems.

When the complete picture is examined, the scientific rationale for allowing COX-2’s to remain on the market is undeniable. The benefit to patients that would otherwise have unbearable pain justifies allowing informed doctors and patients make their own decisions. One point that can be argued is that the COX-2 class of drugs has been way over prescribed, which is a valid argument and gets into the larger issue of direct to consumer advertising, which is to complex to get into here.