Warnings, Columns-Drugs & Supplements, January 2005

WASHINGTON, D.C. - A joint meeting of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's Arthritis Drugs and Drug Safety & Risk Management committees on Feb. 16-18 will include a discussion of the risk-benefit profile for COX-2 selective nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs.

Among the drugs to be discussed are Pfizer's Celebrex (celecoxib) and Bextra (valdecoxib).

In December, the National Cancer Institute and Pfizer halted a clinical trial of Celebrex for prevention of colon polyps after patients taking …