Public Citizen Asks FDA to Stop Celebrex Ad

Article in the New York Times — Watchdog Asks FDA to Stop Celebrex Ad, by the Associated Press.  Here’s an excerpt:

A consumer advocacy group called on the government Monday to order Pfizer Inc. to stop running a television ad for painkiller Celebrex, calling the ad dangerous and misleading because it downplays the drug’s risks.

Public Citizen alleged that the 2 1/2-minute ad asserts, in spite of scientific evidence, that the cardiovascular dangers of Celebrex are no greater than those of any of the other nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory painkillers.

The ad also claims that Celebrex has gastrointestinal benefits over two popular nonprescription painkillers and plays down the risk of bleeding, ulcers and other serious stomach and intestinal problems associated with nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory painkillers, Public Citizen said in its letter to the Food and Drug Administration.

”The ad violates FDA law and regulations because it contains several false or misleading statements that will lead many viewers to underestimate the cardiovascular and gastrointestinal risks of Celebrex and use it in preference to equally effective, safer alternatives,” Dr. Sidney Wolfe, director of Public Citizen’s health research group, wrote in the letter. The letter cited the drugs ibuprofen and naproxen.

BGS