Mobic (generic name: meloxicam) is used to treat pain in osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis patients. Competitors Celebrex, Bextra, and Vioxx are part of a class called Cox-2 inhibitors, a newer type of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID). Mobic is classified as a Cox-2 in some countries but not in the United States, where it's only classified as part of the larger NSAID class, a spokesperson for maker Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals said.
In one study, Mobic revealed a greater risk of heart attacks in early data than Merck & Co. Inc.'s now-withdrawn Vioxx, a veteran Food and Drug Administration (FDA) scientist told an FDA advisory panel. "We found an increased risk," said David Graham, associate director for science and medicine at the FDA's Office of Drug Safety. "It's one study. It's the only study."
Mobic, co-marketed by Abbott Laboratories in the United States, has become the top-selling prescription pain drug since Merck pulled Vioxx, and any possible heart attack risk is important as more patients take the drug, Graham said. Graham, along with other scientists outside the FDA, analyzed data culled from California's Medicaid program on more than 15,000 heart attack patients, making it the largest study to date on such risks. They found the statistical risk of heart attack was 1.37 for Mobic, compared to 1.32 with Vioxx and 1.09 with Celebrex.
