In the wake of revelations that the COX-2 inhibitor Vioxx caused a dramatic increase in heart attacks, doctors began switching patients to the pain reliever Bextra, believing it was safer. Bextra sales rose 57 percent after Vioxx was withdrawn from the market in September 2004. Dr. Peter Jüni, a senior research fellow in clinical epidemiology at the University of Berne, filed a FOIA request with the FDA for its safety data on Bextra. The FDA released a clinical trial report so heavily censored that it looks like a top-secret document. The stamp on the report reads: "28 page(s) are redacted because it [sic] contains trade secret and/or confidential information that is not disclosable."

Acting on a tip, Dr. Curt Furberg, an FDA advisory panelist, obtained unpublished safety data on Bextra from its manufacturer, Pfizer. His analysis showed that Bextra was no safer than Vioxx. After Furberg told the New York Times last November that Bextra was unsafe, the FDA removed him from its advisory panel. Furberg's study was published in the journal Circulation. In February 2005 the FDA asked Pfizer to withdraw Bextra from the market. Pfizer did so in April.