More Reasons for Alternative Pain Relief Medicines

Merck Pharmaceutical drug company could have warned that its popular painkiller Vioxx might increase the risk of heart attacks as soon as the first evidence showed up, rather than waiting two years for federal approval. Merck says it alerted the FDA in 2000 that a study showed heart attacks occurred five times as often in patients taking Vioxx as those on another drug, called naproxen. BUT the agency didn't approve the label change until April 2002, so consumers were largely unaware of the risks associated with this popular painkiller and arthritis drug. The company pulled the drug from the market in September 2004, after another study showed that it could double the risk of heart attacks. DOUBLING the risk of heart attacks is obviously an unacceptable risk, and just another reason so many people are turning to alternative pain relief medicines. I really suggest that is you have chronic pain, to look into alternative pain managagement, as a matter of fact there are some links to the right in this blog that have some excellent pain killer alternatives. I encourage you to take a look if you're in this boat...