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Page: << Prev | 1 | 2 | 3 A second three-year study involving nearly 1,600 patients -- this time led by Dr. Bernard Levin of the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston -- found similar results.
The Prevention of Colorectal Sporadic Adenomatous Polyps (PreSAP) trial compared patients who took a placebo to those who received 400 milligrams/day of Celebrex.
It found that the drug cut the rate of adenomas by 36 percent after three years. However, long-term use also significantly boosted patients' risk for cardiovascular trouble.
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According to Psaty, the take-home message from both trials is that the cardiovascular risks "far outweighed even the most optimistic projections about the drug's cancer-prevention properties."
Saltzman agreed, adding that heart risks associated with Celebrex probably apply to Vioxx and Bextra as well. "My presumption is that it's a class effect," he said.
However, other NSAIDs might still help lower the odds of colon cancer for patients at high risk, the experts said.
"Low-dose aspirin has been looked at already and does show some chemopreventive effects, with about a 20 percent reduction of recurrent adenomas," Saltzman noted. "And certainly low-dose aspirin is used by doctors everywhere to help the heart."
Even though aspirin's anti-cancer benefits aren't as great as those attributed to Celebrex, "I think it is not an unreasonable thing for people to pursue," he said.
The new findings probably won't change the status quo when it comes to the marketing of cox-2 inhibitors, the experts said, since much of the side-effect data had been published before.
"I don't think this gives new or additional information that will help with the determination of whether these drugs should stay on the market," Saltzman said.
More information
There's more on cox-2 inhibitors at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (www.fda.gov ).
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