WASHINGTON ? Pfizer has been told by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to pull its painfiller Bextra off the U.S. market and include the strongest safety warning on another high revenue drug, Celebrex. Sales of the two drugs topped $5.20 billion last year.
Pfizer said it disagrees with the FDA’s position on Bextra but it agreed to suspend sales of the drug. The company said it is “evaluating the operational and financial impact of these actions.?
The announcement comes just days after Pfizer acknowledged growth this year has sputtered to a halt. As a result, Pfizer said it would seek cost cuts of $4 billion, twice as deep as analysts had expected. It estimated that the cost of the restructuring would be $5 billion to $6 billion through 2008.
Pfizer employs about 10,000 people in Michigan, primarily at facilities in Ann Arbor and Kalamazoo. What impact corporate cuts will have on Michigan operations is not yet known.
Celebrex and Bextra were primarily designed to treat chronic pain caused by arthritis and other ailments. They were designed to be easier on the stomach than NSAIDs like ibuprofen. They stop the Cox-2 enzyme, which is thought to be responsible for the pain and swelling of arthritis. Painkillers such as ibuprofen reduce the Cox-2 enzyme, but they also block another enzyme, Cox-1, which is related to stomach functioning.
