1. Bextra
No. 1 on our list of prescription drugs pulled from the market is Bextra. As a pain reliever, the drug was supposed to treat arthritis and other inflammation in the body. But let’s see what happened!
Its manufacturer, Pfizer, decided to take it off the market in 2005 after it had been available in pharmacies for one year. The reason? Bextra was discovered to increase the risk of stroke and heart attack in some patients. But that’s not all; the drug was also found to cause a fatal skin condition.
As a result, Pfizer and its subsidiary, Pharmacia & UpJohn, were fined almost $1.2 million. It’s one of the largest criminal fines a US drug company has had to pay.
