After making public the ban on Merck’s arthritis drug Vioxx (Rofecoxib), the Central government today took decision on other coxib drugs belonging to same class of selective Cox-2 inhibitors. It has initiated a National Pharmacovigilance Programme to scrutinise these drugs and collect data on their side-effects.In its first meeting held on October 11, the National Pharmacovigilance Advisory Committee had, apart from banning Vioxx, cautioned against the use of other drugs in the same class and said ‘‘their use in patients with coronary heart disease/cardiovascular disease be stopped by appropriate labeling changes’’. The related drugs are celecoxib, parecoxib, valdecoxib. ‘‘The programme is aimed at capacity building, to initiate timely action on drugs if they are associated with side-effects,’’ said Drug Controller General of India, Ashwani Kumar. Under the programme, 30 medical colleges have been identified which would collect data on the drugs. There would be five regional centres and two zonal centres — one each at AIIMS (Delhi) and Nair Hospital (Mumbai). The zonal centres would do the final report making.According to doctors, the mechanism of drugs’ reaction in the body and its effects are similar in all Cox-2 inhibitors. ‘‘Besides the difference in name, there is hardly any difference in the way the drugs work,’’ said Dr Anoop Misra, professor, Department of Medicine, AIIMS and committee-member.‘‘One major cause of heart attack is formation of clots due to aggregation of platelets. These drugs not only decrease the dilation of arteries but also have no effect on the platelets, hence increasing the risk of attack,’’ said Dr Misra.
