Fast Facts on Bextra and Celebrex

April 7, 2005 — -- The Food and Drug Administration asked Pfizer Inc. to pull the painkiller Bextra off the shelves today in a voluntary recall after considering data that the drug poses higher-than-normal cardiovascular risk and potentially life-threatening skin reactions.

The FDA also requested that drug makers include a boxed warning in the label for drugs in the same class of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, including Celebrex.

The following are some facts on the once-popular medications.

Sources: Pfizer, Inc., www.fda.gov, British Medical Journal, Cleveland Clinic Journal of Medicine, ABC News Medical Unit