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Future of COX2 inhibitors

Nature Reviews Drug Discovery volume 4, pages 453–454 (2005)Cite this article

In the 1990s, a new class of drugs collectively known as selective inhibitors of cyclooxygenase 2 (COX2) was developed for the treatment of pain and inflammation. Selective COX2 inhibitors (coxibs) were designed to be at least as efficacious as the common non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), but to lack one of their major side effects, gastrointestinal (GI) bleeding (Table 1). Since 1998, the FDA has approved three selective COX2 inhibitors: celecoxib (Celebrex; Pfizer); rofecoxib (Vioxx; Merck); and valdecoxib (Bextra; Pfizer). All three drugs rapidly became blockbusters, each achieving sales of more than US$1 billion in less than 15 months post-launch. However, today two of these drugs are off the market — rofecoxib was voluntarily withdrawn by Merck in September 2004 and valdecoxib was pulled by Pfizer as requested by the FDA in April 2005. The rapid rise and even more rapid demise of COX2 inhibitors sent shock waves through the stock market — both Merck and Pfizer have lost a quarter of their value since 2004. What went wrong?

Table 1 Comparison of NSAIDs and selective COX2 inhibitors
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Figure 1: 2004 Worldwide sales of arthritis drugs by class.
Figure 2: Global sales of prescription and over-the-counter COX inhibitors.
Figure 3: Prescription volumes of selective COX2 inhibitors from August 2004 to January 2005.

References

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  1. Ph.D., is a Vice President at MEDACorp, 1 Federal Street, Boston, 02110, Massachusetts, USA

    Irena Melnikova

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  1. Irena Melnikova
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This article was written prior to the author's affiliation with MEDACorp.

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Melnikova, I. Future of COX2 inhibitors. Nat Rev Drug Discov 4, 453–454 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrd1755

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