The Bextra debate

One criticism of Bextra is that is was only available in 10 mg doses. Some studies suggest that this is an unnecessarily large dose. In a review article of ten large, well-controlled, randomized trials of Bextra, doses of 2.5 and 5 mg/day were significantly superior to placebo for osteoarthritis of the knee. 5 mg of Bextra was effective for osteoarthritis of the hip. Your doctor is unlikely to know any of this, because it isn't mentioned in the Bextra package insert or Physicians' Desk Reference.