Arthritis is a condition commonly associated with aging but it occurs in people of all ages. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, three out of five arthritis patients are under the age of 65. The most familiar forms are osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis. Osteoarthritis is the degeneration and degradation of joints brought on by sports, aging, repetitive motion and heredity. Rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune disorder in which the body attacks its own tissues, in this case the joints. Both forms are painful, restrict normal movement, cause deformity in the joint and generally make life difficult for millions of us. In recent years we have treated arthritis with COX-2 inhibitors, also known as non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs or NSAIDs. The most notorious one, rofecoxib marketed by Merck as Vioxx, was voluntarily pulled from the market in 2004 after several drug-associated complications and deaths. Vioxx had been worth $2.5 billion to Merck and there is a lot of controversy still over how it gained approval in the first place, including suggestions that clinical trials had been tampered with and reported incorrectly in The New England Journal of Medicine.
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