Pricey Pain Pills No Better at Reducing Tummy Distress

It looks like the billions spent on expensive new Cox-2 inhibitors like Celebrex and Vioxx was wasted -- and not just because Vioxx was the likely cause of tens of thousands of heart attacks among its users.

The British Medical Journal this morning reports a new trial showing that Cox-2 inhibitors do not reduce the gastrointestinal side effects of over-the-counter pain pills like ibuprofen. This was the whole rationale for justifying the drug industry's massive investment in this new class of medicines, since they don't reduce pain any more effectively than older pain pills.

To quote from the study's conclusions: "No consistent evidence was found of enhanced safety against gastrointestinal events with any of the new cyclo-oxygenase-2 inhibitors compared with non-selective non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. The use of ulcer healing drugs reduced the increased risk of adverse gastrointestinal outcomes with all groups of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs."

In other words, if you are one of the 2 to 4 percent of people who suffer acid indigestion from taking over-the-counter pain pills, take another over-the-counter medication for that condition -- like Zantac. You'll save yourself or your insurer a lot of money. And you'll get the same pain relief.