# Vioxx off the market! Nooooooooo! **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [September 30, 2004, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vioxx-off-the-market-nooooooooo/266845 "2004-09-30T14:10:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2004, 10:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vioxx-off-the-market-nooooooooo/266845/41 "2004-10-01T10:14:00Z")
This case points out the crying need for tort reform. If the lawyers are allowed to drain the blood out of Merck, think of what effect this will have on future drug development: there aint gonna be any! Here we have a drug with serious side effects, but one that offers significant benefits. How can any ignoramus of a lawyer determine that any drug must have ZERO risk of side effects? If they do have a class-action lawsuit, then the FDA should be sued as well-they approved the drug for use. Ya gotta admire those selfless lawyers…always working in the public interest! Of course, i can see the logic of the lawyer’sposition…winning such a case will give them enormous power over drug companies. Can we have a class-action lawsuit against class-action lawfirms? :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Early\_Out](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Early\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Early_Out)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2004, 11:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vioxx-off-the-market-nooooooooo/266845/42 "2004-10-01T11:41:31Z")
> [@Liberal](#): > > It is astounding that anyone would ask for a cite that the FDA makes a lot of money on fines. Although it is the height of laziness to ask someone else to Google the obvious for you, here you go: “In FY 2003, our efforts led to 341 arrests, 199 convictions, fines and restitutions of more than $800 million submitted to the U.S. Treasury” — Testimony before Congress, March 11, 2004, Lester M. Crawford, Acting Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration. The key phrase there is “submitted to the U.S. Treasury.” In other words, the FDA doesn’t get to keep the money. It doesn’t get added to their coffers, for their use. They have no bureaucratic incentive to levy fines, since they don’t get to use the money. Their budget remains the same whether they levy $1 in fines or $1 billion in fines. The FDA makes no money on fines at all. As I suspected, you’ve been blowing smoke up our asses again. ---
**Author:** ![Early\_Out](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Early\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Early_Out)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2004, 11:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vioxx-off-the-market-nooooooooo/266845/43 "2004-10-01T11:52:38Z")
> [@Liberal](#): > > …it is the height of laziness to ask someone else to Google the obvious for you… BTW, it’s the height of laziness not to check the FDA’s budget (an eye-glazing experience, I’ll grant you), which would quickly reveal that the FDA’s activities are funded by appropriations, supplemented with various “user fees.” There’s no mention of fines. ---
**Author:** ![Eva\_Luna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e495f1/32.png) [@Eva\_Luna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eva_Luna)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2004, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vioxx-off-the-market-nooooooooo/266845/44 "2004-10-01T14:04:31Z")
[QUOTE=TeaElleThat sharp spike in heart attacks in those taking Vioxx over an extended period of time – as one woud if the drug was efficacious for chronic pain management – was what threw up red flags. 1.5% of users doesn’t seem like much, but when you’re talking about a drug that could ostensibly be used by millions, many of whom are elderly, it’s a substantial concern. [/QUOTE] Sure, it’s a substantial concern. So why couldn’t they do what’s done with all sorts of other drugs, and simply warn that it should be used with caution in the long term or in patients with cardiac risk factors? Why deny the drug to a young woman with menstrual cramps a day or two a month, or a semi-gimpy person who simply overestimated her ability to walk the day before, or a teenager who’s had his wisdom teeth out and would rather not take a narcotic painkiller? ---
**Author:** ![Burrido](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3be4f8/32.png) [@Burrido](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Burrido)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2004, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vioxx-off-the-market-nooooooooo/266845/45 "2004-10-02T02:23:50Z")
> [@lissener](#): > > Same here. But what’s nambutone? Anti-Inflammatory-Joint pain reliever. Think industrial Ibruprofen. I take it for chronic Tendinitis in my wrists. Generic for Relafen. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2004, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vioxx-off-the-market-nooooooooo/266845/46 "2004-10-02T02:30:54Z")
> [@Burrido](#): > > Think industrial Ibruprofen. Generic for Relafen. Not really. Ibuprofen is a propionic acid. Namebutone is an acetic acid. [http://elfstrom.com/arthritis/nsaids/arthritis.html#Table1](http://elfstrom.com/arthritis/nsaids/arthritis.html#Table1) ---
**Author:** ![Survivor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/51bf81/32.png) [@Survivor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Survivor)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2004, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vioxx-off-the-market-nooooooooo/266845/47 "2004-10-02T05:21:38Z")
Great - left with months and months of Vioxx in the cupboard that I don’t know whether I should use or not… Sounds like I’m left with Celebrex… which didn’t seem to do much when I tried it… Or was that one of the ones that made my throat swell up? :eek: Vioxx was the only thing I found I could take that helped on major pain days - which can be a problem when you use Sign Language for a living… Back to the doc - and better keep my Epipen ready in case of anaphylactic shock… ☹ ---
**Author:** ![CanvasShoes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/74df32/32.png) [@CanvasShoes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CanvasShoes)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2004, 7:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vioxx-off-the-market-nooooooooo/266845/48 "2004-10-02T07:30:28Z")
Sigh, this sucks, celebrex never worked all that well, and with all of my decrepitness (not a real word), I need the relief that vioxx offered. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Lao](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/2bfe46/32.png) [@Dr.Lao](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Lao)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2004, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vioxx-off-the-market-nooooooooo/266845/49 "2004-10-02T17:27:52Z")
> [@thursday next](#): > > In the study conducted by Merck, they didn’t use amazingly healthy humans with minor ouchies, they conducting a study on patients who had previously developed polyps in the colon and the rectum, which could turn cancerous. Its not like they went up to Mr. Healthy, got 10 of his healthiest friends and ran the study. Not the healthiest people, but not necessarily people who were at increased risk for heart attack or stroke, right? I mean, what do recurrent colon polyps have to do with cadiovascular disease, apart from the fact that both are seen most commonly in older people? ---
**Author:** ![Canadjun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/76d3ee/32.png) [@Canadjun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Canadjun)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2004, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vioxx-off-the-market-nooooooooo/266845/50 "2004-10-03T20:53:16Z")
> [@Liberal](#): > > Don’t know. Anyway, I wish you well. Perhaps Canada is still selling the drug. Nope. We had the same announcement up here. ---
**Author:** ![kittenblue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ba8739/32.png) [@kittenblue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kittenblue)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2004, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vioxx-off-the-market-nooooooooo/266845/51 "2004-10-03T23:48:46Z")
Vioxx worked okay for me, but gave me hives. Celebrex worked just as well, with no hives. But now, after gastric bypass surgery, I can only take Tylenol, which works not at all. ---
**Author:** ![Early\_Out](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Early\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Early_Out)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2004, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vioxx-off-the-market-nooooooooo/266845/52 "2004-10-06T22:15:49Z")
Sounds like the problems with Vioxx were even worse than first reported: [http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6192603/](http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6192603/). This article also makes it fairly plain that we’re not talking about Vioxx being dangerous for people with heart conditions - it sounds more as if the active ingredient in Vioxx actually _creates_ problems with high blood pressure, hardening of the arteries, and clotting. There’s also the suggestion that this may be a problem with that entire class of drugs, including Celebrex and Bextra. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vioxx-off-the-market-nooooooooo/266845.md?page=2)