Caleb Alexander, Instructor in Internal Medicine, Pritzker School of Medicine, University of Chicago

A study conducted by researchers at the medical schools of the University of Chicago and Stanford University shows that 63% of the increase in prescriptions for more-expensive COX-2 inhibitor drugs was accounted for by prescriptions of these drugs to patients not at elevated risk for adverse gastrointestinal (GI) events from nonselective nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), even though limiting or eliminating such risks from NSAIDs was the primary justification used to promote increased use of these COX-2 inhibitor drugs.

The study concluded that:

"Marked increases in COX-2 inhibitor use have occurred since their release, primarily among patients at low risk for adverse events from NSAIDs. These findings demonstrate the challenge of limiting innovative therapies to the settings in which they are initially targeted and maximally beneficial."

Etopia Media Medical News Network conducted a phone interview today with Caleb Alexander, M.D., the "corresponding author" of this study, which is entitled "National Trends in Cyclooxygenase-2 Inhibitor Use Since Market Release: Nonselective Diffusion of a Selectively Cost-effective Innovation," about this report and its implications, from his office at the Pritzker School of Medicine at the University of Chicago, where he is an Instructor in Internal Medicine.

You can listen to that conversation by clicking here.

You can read the abstract of this article by clicking here.

To access a news release about this article published on the web site of the Office of Communication and Public Affairs of the School of Medicine at Stanford University, click here.

Previous reporting about COX-2 inhibitors, especially VIOXX®, from Merck, and Celebrex®, from Pfizer, can be found in these Etopia Media Medical News Network articles:

9-30-04: Merck spokesperson discusses its recall of VIOXX®

10-3-04: VIOXX® risks have been known for years, other COX-2 inhibitors may be equally dangerous

10-4-04: The New York Times says that the "reason for the greater risk [of cardiac events in VIOXX® users] is not known; EMMNN offers a possible reason

11-6-04: The Lancet confirms what Etopia Media Medical News Network reported a month ago, that Merck & Company should have known about the cardiac health risks of VIOXX® as early as 2000

12-19-04: COX-2 inhibitor Celebrex® increases "cardiac event" risk just as COX-2 inhibitor VIOXX® does, but Pfizer, unlike Merck, chooses not to recall it