Oh no - now it's naproxen in the firing line!
The US NIH has announced that it is suspending a large clinical trial studying the effects of long term NSAID in the prevention of Alzheimer's disease (AD). This trial aimed to determine whether naproxen or celecoxib reduced the risk for development of AD and was intended to run for three years. Two reasons have been given for the suspension of the trial - the first was the increased risk of cardiovascular events with celecoxib in another trial, announced last Friday and reported here; the second was an apparent increase in the incidence of 'cardiovascular and cerebrovascular events' in the patients taking naproxen. There are no further details available at the moment: the FDA is advising people taking OTC naproxen to follow the directions on the label, and those taking prescribed naproxen who have concerns to contact their doctor. [Editor's comment: at the moment, patients can be reassured that this does not prove naproxen to be unsafe - other work suggests a protective effect with naproxen, as reported here and here. More information is required before any specific decision can be taken.]
FDA statement
NIH statement
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