Pfizer marketing Celebrex to doctors despite Pharmac criticism

Drug company Pfizer said today it is continuing to promote its arthritis drug Celebrex to doctors despite reports it more than doubles the risk of heart attacks and strokes.

However, Pfizer has no plans to advertise the drug to consumers, company spokesman Tim Jones said today.

The last marketing of Celebrex to consumers was in a newspaper advertisement on November 11.

"We are still promoting to the medical community," Mr Jones told NZPA.

"We believe it's important at this stage that doctors have information on which they can make decisions for the benefit of their patients," he said.

"From our perspective, they need to have a balance of all of the information available."

Celebrex is a Cox-2 Inhibitor and the findings from the United States follow the international withdrawal two months ago of another Cox-2 Inhibitor, Vioxx, due to similar side-effects.

Government drug-buying agency Pharmac yesterday accused Pfizer of continuing to aggressively promote Celebrex to doctors despite the withdrawal of Vioxx and similar concerns being raised about its own drug.

Pharmac chief executive Wayne McNee said he was disappointed Pfizer continued to market Celebrex after the United States Food and Drug Administration asked the company to voluntarily withdraw its advertising.

Safety concerns around Cox-2 Inhibitors had been known for at least four years and Pharmac had decided in January not to fund the drugs based on the evidence of potential risk to patients, he said.

Mr McNee said when making the funding decision Pharmac concluded there was no evidence the Cox-2 Inhibitors worked better than the older medicines.

Mr Jones said he was surprised at Pharmac's criticism of Pfizer because it didn't subsidise Celebrex.

"My overall feeling it that is not a decision for Pharmac to make.

"We need to make decisions on the promotion of our products to doctors and we have made a decision not to promote to consumers, but we will still be talking to doctors so they have up-to-the-minute information available to them."

Health Ministry drug safety agency Medsafe was doing a full review of Cox-2 Inhibitors and Pfizer had sent information about its product, Mr Jones said.

"They're in the process of reviewing the class and I think it's unwise prior to that to try and pre-empt any of the information."

In a statement posted on its international website on December 17 Pfizer said while the dosing of Celebrex in a long-term cancer study had been suspended due to increased cardiovascular risk, preliminary analysis of a second long-term cancer study showed there was no increased cardiovascular risk.

"One of the studies ... demonstrated an increased cardiovascular risk over placebo, while the other trial ... revealed no greater cardiovascular risk than placebo," the statement said.

Pfizer said the findings in the first study were "unexpected and not consistent with the reported findings in the second study".

"Pfizer is taking immediate steps to fully understand the results and rapidly communicate new information to regulators, physicians and patients around the world."

Medsafe said advice from the Medicines Adverse Reactions Committee was that the 1.96 times increased cardiovascular risk found in Vioxx may also occur "to some degree" in all Cox-2 Inhibitors including Celebrex, Arcoxia, Mobic and Bextra.

Patients taking these drugs should talk to their healthcare provider about alternatives if they had concerns, Medsafe said in a statement this week.

Cox-2 Inhibitors were not recommended for routine use in patients with rheumatoid arthritis or osteoarthritis, Medsafe said.

A number of alternative anti-inflammatory agents for the treatment of osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis were available in New Zealand and funded by Pharmac, the statement said.

- NZPA