New York - Pfizer Inc. said it has found an increased risk of heart attacks with patients taking its top selling painkiller celebrex, a drug that is in the same class as Vioxx, but has no plans to remove it from the market.

The National Cancer Institute, which was conducting the study for Pfizer, suspended the use of Celebrex after discovering that patients taking 400mg to 800mg of the drug daily had 2.5 times greater risk of experiencing major heart problems than those who were not. A separate cancer study found no increased heart risk with patients taking 400mg of Celebrex per day.

Pfizer was conducting the trials as part of an effort to find a new application for the drug.

Both Celebrex and Vioxx, which is made by Merck & Co., are a type of drug called cox-2 inhibitors, which have become popular in their effectiveness in treating the pain of arthritis and other ailments. Vioxx was pulled from the market in September because of safety concerns.

Dr. Marie Griffin, an epidemiologist and drug safety expert at Vanderbilt University, said the new findings on Celebrex is worrisome evidence suggesting that all these cox-2 drugs have similar risks.

However, she noted that the halted study was testing a 400 to 800 milligram does - four times the usual dose - and that the safety problem with Celebrex may only apply to those high levels.

What this means for people who have heart disease is, it's best to avoid these drugs, she said.

For others, "people may want to reconsider their use of coxibs until we feel better about their safety," and if they are using them, stick to the normal dose, Griffin said.

Earlier this month, the Food and Drug Administration said it was adding a warning to the labels of another Pfizer drug Bextra, noting a risk of potential heart problems associated with the use of Bextra in people who have recently had heart bypass surgery. Bextra is also a cox-2 inhibitor type of drug.

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Soldotna Professional Pharmacy