Drugs to Stop It; Drugs to Start It

COX-2 is produced by the body to fight inflammation - but it causes pain while it's working. COX-2 inhibitors like Vioxx and Celebrex relieve the pain by suppressing COX-2 production. So of course, the inflammation continues unhindered, and causes other problems - like heart attacks. Now, a new drug called adiponectin stimulates COX-2 production to help heal the body after ischemic heart injury - and presumably, can be used to neutralize the effects of short and long term COX-2 inhibitor use.

Adiponectin: Healing a wounded heart OR
Adiponectin

Adiponectin stimulates AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) and COX-2 to prevent myocyte apoptosis and reduce inflammation after ischemic heart injury.
Original research papers: Nature Medicine 11, 1096 - 1103 (2005)

(One or the other of these links should work - but you probably will need to sign up for a free subscription.)

Adiponectin is a collagen-like circulating protein secreted by adipocytes
(The drug) Muraglitazar normalizes adiponectin levels
In April 2004, BMS and Merck & Co Inc entered into a global collaborative agreement for muraglitazar.

See: Muraglitazar: Bristol-Myers Squibb/Merck

Also see: Merck and Vioxx: A Twisted Tale of Cover-ups, Pork and Profits



Phew. Good thing they got that one covered.

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[edit on 29-10-2005 by soficrow]

As an arthritic, I cannot even begin to tell you how dumb this all sounds to me... Ha ha... I love our medical world today= Take medicine to fix a problem, which will cause another in the process, so take another medication to fix THAT problem, which will cause another, &c, &c, &c... Take this pill, and you'll be shelling out massive amounts of money for another three you'll have to take to fix the problems this one caused...

I agree with you man-- Glad they got this one under control! :bnghd:

Please see second part of post above - added more and VERY interesting info.

It's times like these that I thank God for the little things like going into remission. I haven't had a major problem since before these meds became popular and I'm quite a lucky duck for it.

I do, however, feel terrible for these poor people who actually took these medicines. Doesn't anybody ever test this stuff BEFORE they put it on the market? Or do I just think too far in advance???