Pfizer removes Bextra

Pfizer Pharmaceuticals agreed on Thursday to remove its drug Bextra from the U.S. market pending further discussions with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, despite the fact that Pfizer had earlier declared that its drugs were safe.

The FDA asked the drug maker, the largest in the world, to remove its arthritis drug from the market because the risks of using it outweigh its benefits in relieving the pain of arthritis. The FDA also asked Pfizer to post a warning on another of its drugs, Celebrex.

In March, the FDA had allowed both drugs to remain on the market as long as they carried risk warnings, at least until further determination of their risks and benefits could be made.

Both drugs are members of the class of drugs called cox-inhibitors, which are suspected of posing a high risk of heart attack and stroke in patients who take them.

Also on Thursday, the FDA agreed to review a proposal from Merck to return their cox-inhibitor, Vioxx, to the market and asked all drug companies who make cox-2 drugs to include risk warnings on their labels.

All this news combined to take Pfizer shares down 1.6 percent in early trading on Thursday. Merck was also down early in the day.