E-drug: NEW: Therapeutics Letter 31 now available on the web
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Therapeutics Letter #31 was posted today on our web site and is
available at
<http://www.ti.ubc.ca/pages/letter31.htm>
This letter is also available for download in a printable version in Adobe
Acrobat PDF format at
<http://www.ti.ubc.ca/pages/31.pdf>
We invite you to drop by and have a look at this Letter. Please feel free
to forward this message to any of your friends or colleagues that might be
interested in this topic.
This Letter addresses the fact that a new drug - celecoxib (Celebrex) -
widely prescribed for the treatment of osteoarthritis and rheumatoid
arthritis, was licensed in Canada before publication of any research
evidence demonstrating safety and effectiveness. The drug, marketed by
Searle Canada, a Monsanto Company, was approved by Health Canada in April
of this year and is the first of a class of drugs called COX II inhibitors,
which are related to the widely used NSAIDs. In the first three months of
availability, Canadian pharmacies have filled more than 428,000
prescriptions for celecoxib.
The review by the Therapeutics Initiative at UBC, aimed at evaluating the
research evidence on celecoxib, found no published complete research trial
reports, which would allow assessment of the company 92s efficacy and
safety claims. To date the only available published clinical trial
information is in the form of short, incomplete summaries (abstracts).
Without publication of trial reports, an essential feature of scientific
inquiry is lost; full disclosure of experimental methods and analysis is
needed so that the research can be replicated, critically appraised, and
accepted or refuted. Without complete clinical data it is impossible for
independent assessors like the Therapeutics Initiative to provide health
professionals with the timely unbiased information they need to make
treatment decisions for their patients.
What do you think? We would appreciate receiving your comments on this
Therapeutics Letter and its possible implications for clinical practice.
The Therapeutics Initiative is a University-based research group
established in 1994 to provide health professionals with unbiased
evaluation of drug and other therapies.
Regards,
Ciprian Jauca
Program Coordinator
Therapeutics Initiative, Evidence-Based Drug Therapy
University of British Columbia
Department of Pharmacology & Therapeutics
2176 Health Sciences Mall
Vancouver, BC, V6T 1Z3
Canada
Phone: (604) 822-0700
Fax: (604) 822-0701
E-mail: jauca@ti.ubc.ca <mailto:jauca@ti.ubc.ca>
Web site: www.ti.ubc.ca <http://www.ti.ubc.ca/>
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