After the failure of Vioxx, pain killer which was found to cause the death of Robert C. Ernst on May 2001 after taking Vioxx. Merck Pharma the manufacturers of Vioxx were asked by the Texas Jury to pay $253.5 million as compensation to Mrs. Ernst. Over 5 years, about 20 million people worldwide took Vioxx before Merck stopped selling the drug in September 2004, after a clinical trial found irrefutable evidence that Vioxx had heart risks compared with a placebo.
Due to the high toxic and side effects of pain killers like Vioxx, the researchers were in search of pain killers with no toxic effects and they found that the Age old still world wide used Aspirin was found to have no toxicity in addition it was found to decrease the incidence of heart attacks. The study was conducted by Dr. Thomas Coffman, Chief of Nephrology at Duke University. The findings of the research which was published in Cell metabolism has shown that the painkillers like Vioxx are strong Cox-2 inhibitors which interferes with the chemical pathways that causes pain.v Though Cox-2 inhibitors have good effect in reducing pain, they may cause high blood pressure and severe cardiovascular problems. These drugs inhibit both the hormones responsible for both widening and narrowing of the blood vessels and this causes blood to form dangerous clots. Contrast to Cox-2 inhibitors, aspirin helps in blood thinning which is good for blood circulation. Though the research success as occurred in genetically modified mice model the scientists as to go for a clinical trial in order to test the efficacy of the drug in humans. The cardiovascular protection of the aspirin drug has to be tested in Cox-2 inhibitor drug users. The recruit for the study has to be taking Cox-2 drugs for some time and they should be given aspirin and compared with the placebo and Cox-2 drug user groups.
