The Painkiller Bextra Can Lead to Heart Attack and Stroke

Kahn Gauthier Swick is investigating heart attack and stroke claims against pharmaceutical company Pharmacia on behalf of patients who have been prescribed the painkiller Bextra (valdecoxib) and later suffered side effects such as heart attack, stroke, severe skin reaction, or other adverse effects. Bextra, a COX-2 inhibitor, was approved by the federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on November 16, 2001, and was marketed in March, 2002. It can be prescribed for osteoarthritis, adult rheumatoid arthritis, and primary dysmennorhea.

Recently, in light of the growing evidence of serious cardiac risks associated with Cox-2 inhibitors generally, the medical community has become increasingly concerned with the increased risk of heart attack and stroke posed by Bextra use.

In the most recent research on the question, the Cleveland Clinic Heart Center analyzed the data from four prior trials of other Cox-2 drugs involving 18,064 patients. These studies were used by the drugmakers to gain FDA approval of the medications. The Cleveland Clinic's analysis revealed that all four studies showed a trend toward an increase in heart attacks or blood clotting events, such as stroke, venous thrombophlebitis and pulmonary embolism. The clinic also revealed that through October 2000, approximately 200 major clotting events occurred in patients receiving at least one of these two drugs, with more than 50 of these events classified as heart attacks, according to FDA reports. The clinic's findings were published on August 22, 2001, in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Heart Attack

A medical emergency that occurs when a blood clot forms suddenly in a heart artery and causes a blockage, usually after the surface of cholesterol plaque in the artery breaks. A heart attack, also called a myocardial infarction, usually produces chest pain and shortness of breath. It may also cause sudden death. If nothing is done to reopen the blocked artery, the heart muscle will die and be replaced by scar tissue. More than one million heart attacks occur every year in the United States; it is the leading cause of death from heart disease. Most of these deaths occur outside the hospital.

Other recent clinical studies demonstrate that Cox-2 inhibitor drugs raise blood pressure, which may contribute to a tendency toward increased heart attack risk.

Stroke

A sudden decrease or stopping of blood flow in an artery of the brain sufficient to cause damage to the brain tissue. These occur infrequently following cardiopulmonary bypass (open heart operations) and most likely result from obstruction of a small blood vessel or blood vessels by clots or debris, or from air embolization. Children and young adults with persistent cyanosis (right to left shunting through atrial or ventricular septal defects) are at continued higher risk from embolism from intravenous catheters.

Our Bextra heart attack/stroke claim form will help you with telling us about your potiental claim.