Public Citizen Wants Celebrex, Bextra Banned

photo-1WASHINGTON - The consumer advocacy group Public Citizen has petitioned the FDA, urging the regulatory agency to remove Celebrex and Bextra from the market because of mounting evidence that the drugs pose serious cardiovascular risks to those who take them.

In a Jan. 24 letter to FDA Acting Commissioner Lester M. Crawford, Public Citizen provides nearly 15 pages of clinical trial summaries showing that Bextra and Celebrex, as well as all other COX-2 inhibitors, are dangerous.

"Evaluating a drug involves computing the risk to benefit ratio it provides patients," the petition states. "If a drug offers no unique benefit …