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Kaiser Permanente, one of the nation's largest managed care organizations, has ordered its pharmacies to stop dispensing Bextra®, a painkiller drug made by Pfizer that some tests have indicated increased risks of heart attack and stroke.
The Oakland-based HMO, hospital and clinical network, which serves 6.2 million Californians and 8.5 million patients nationwide, has asked doctors to find safer alternatives for patients suffering from arthritis and other maladies.
This is the first time Kaiser has banned a drug that is approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, and a Kaiser spokesman said he believes no other health systems have taken similar action against Bextra®.
Dr. Sharon Levine, associate executive director of the company's Northern California Unit, said the decision was unlikely to affect many of Kaiser's patients, as doctors have already avoided using the drug. But "for safety and quality reasons, we don't want to be involved in dispensing this drug," she said.
A ban by Kaiser, whose practices in many ways a model for other health care providers, could further dampen sales of Bextra®, which had sales last year of $1.29 billion.
Kaiser said that its Bextra® ban would take effect February 1 for new prescriptions and March 1 for refill prescriptions. The lag is intended to give the group enough time to inform the doctors and dentists who see Kaiser patients, Dr. Levine said. The press release also stated that their ban on Bextra® will continue for at least six months, or until the FDA or Pfizer can prove the drug is safe.
Dr. Levine said that Kaiser took its action against Bextra® because the drug had no unique benefits, but plenty of possible risks. Clinical trials have found that Bextra® cures pain no better than older medicines like ibuprofen and diclofenac. And while Bextra® is theoretically supposed to be safer on the stomach than older medicines, this benefit has never been proved in a clinical trial.
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