Since I published a warning about Bextra on November 22 of last year, I wasn't at all surprised to learn that the FDA yanked the popular arthritis drug from pharmacy shelves this morning.
In addition to canning Bextra, the FDA has also announced that more than a dozen popular prescription painkillers and over-the-counter NSAIDs must now carry some of the government's strongest warnings.
One of the comments I found most humorous: "Now, doctors must find alternative treatment for their patients."
I assume the article aims to make the reader feel sorry for the doctors... as if they will have nothing to do without their beloved Bextra.
I do not feel sorry for the doctors. Their job should not be to prescribe treatment, but rather to cure. Somehow, they've missed this.
Well, now that Bextra is on the way out (right on the heels of Vioxx), maybe doctors will finally start to wake up. Maybe they'll try to cure patients instead of treat them. Would that be such a bad thing? Only for Merck, Pfizer, and the rest, I suppose.
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