Banned Vioxx and Bextra still available

If you do a search on the Internet for buy Vioxx or Bextra (both drugs are now banned worldwide), you will find that many companies are advertising these drugs on their websites. In other words you can buy these drugs even though they are banned. Why would that be so?

While Vioxx and Bextra are now banned and may have killed over 60,000 people in America alone, both drugs were highly effective in pain relief. In fact some patients report that the kind of pain relief that they get from these drugs is not provided by other painkillers though Celebrex (which is still available though with a black box warning) does perform very well too.

After Merck recalled Vioxx in September last year while the FDA forced Pfizer to recall Bextra in April this year, both companies offered a refund for unused drugs. However, it seems that not everyone (particularly the pharmacies) decided not to seek a refund hoping that they will be able to sell them later to those who are "addicted" to these drugs.

A newspaper report says that both Rofecoxib (Vioxx) and Valdecoxib (Bextra) are openly available in New Delhi - capital of India. This is not surprising since India has a very poor drug supply system with literally no monitoring of the prescription drug market. Pharmacies often sell fake drugs or sell prescription drugs without a proper prescription.