WEDNESDAY, Oct. 31, 2001 (HealthDayNews) -- You can add the prescription drug Celebrex to the long list of general pain remedies.
The FDA has approved Celebrex --- made by Pharmacia Corp. and Pfizer Inc. -- for acute pain and primary dysmenorrhea (menstrual cramps.) This makes the well-known Cox-2 inhibitor, anti-inflammatory drug the next major player in the multibillion-dollar pain management
field. Its chief competitor, Vioxx, has already been approved for the same use.
The FDA go-ahead followed a review of clinical studies involving more than 1,700 patients with post-oral-surgery pain, musculoskeletal pain, post-orthopaedic surgery pain or primary dysmenorrhea. In each case, patients rated their pain as moderate to severe.
Already market leaders for the treatment of osteoarthritis, Celebrex and Merck's Vioxx will now go probably go head-to-head in the acute pain and menstrual pain management markets. Celebrex is also approved for relief of the signs and symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis.
This article from about.com gives a comparison between Celebrex and Vioxx.
And this story from imsHealth explains the high stakes being played by pharmaceutical firms in their efforts to capture the pain-control market.
