New COX-2 inhibitor may also lower blood pressure

BARCELONA (Reuters) - Lumiracoxib, developed by Novartis AG under the trade name Prexige, is a COX-2 viagra cialis online pharmacy pharmacy analgesic drug that has significantly better effects on blood pressure than the older generic drug ibuprofen, researchers said on Friday. High blood pressure (hypertension) affects around 40 percent of people with osteoarthritis, for which ibuprofen is widely used. The inflammatory joint disease is generally seen among elderly people, who are also more likely to have hypertension.
Data presented at the annual European Congress of Rheumatology showed patients with osteoarthritis who were already taking blood pressure medication had a slight decrease in hypertension on Prexige, compared with a slight increase seen in those taking ibuprofen.
Both drugs belong to a class of medicines called non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug ( NSAIDs), but as a COX-2 inhibitor, Prexige is a more selective agent.
COX-2s have been under a cloud since the withdrawal of Merck & Co. Inc.'s Vioxx in 2004 after studies found it raised heart-attack risk, and there have also been worries about other NSAIDs.
Tom MacDonald, professor of clinical pharmacology at Ninewells Hospital & Medical School in Dundee, Scotland, said the new findings were encouraging in view of these safety concerns.
"NSAIDs, including some COX-2s, have been associated with raised blood pressure, and this effect may be in part responsible for the increased risk of cardiovascular disease associated with this class of medications," he said.
AWAITING U.S. VERDICT
Prexige is approved in more than 50 countries -- and is currently being rolled out in Europe -- but it has yet to win a green light in the United States, the world's biggest market.
The drug had initially been seen as a blockbuster product for Novartis, but analysts' expectations for its sales collapsed following the Vioxx withdrawal, and there were doubts whether Prexige would ever win U.S. approval. yiwu china
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Karl Heinz Koch of Swiss brokerage Vontobel said the new results supported the safety profile of Prexige in the tarnished COX-2 drug class and gave Prexige a better chance of U.S. approval than Arcoxia, a follow-up COX-2 drug from Merck that was voted down by a Food and Drug Administration panel.
The four-week placebo-controlled study presented in Barcelona looked at results from a total of 741 patients, aged 50 or older, and compared 100 milligrams of Prexige given once daily with 600 mg ibuprofen taken three times daily.
At the end of the study, Prexige patients showed a decrease in mean systolic blood pressure of 2.7 millimeters of mercury (mmHg) versus a 2.2 mmHg increase in those on ibuprofen. Diastolic blood pressure decreased by 1.5 mmHg in the Prexige group and rose 0.5 mmHg in those taking ibuprofen. travel china
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yiwu Translation Service
Systolic pressure represents the pressure within blood vessels when the heart contracts, while diastolic pressure is measured between heart beats.
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