New prescriptions for Pfizer Inc.‘s arthritis drug Celebrex fell 56 percent last week after the company released data showing the drug may increase the risk of heart attacks and strokes, the Wall Street Journal reports.

And new prescriptions for naproxen, sold under the brand name Aleve, fell 33 percent after the National Institutes of Health linked it also to possible heart risks, the paper said, citing data from Verispan, a market-research company based in Yardley, Pennsylvania.

The data, based on the dispensing activity of about 55 percent of prescriptions issued in U.S. pharmacies, found that Celebrex’s share of new prescriptions for arthritis drugs dropped to 7.9 percent at the end of last week from 14.9 percent a week earlier.

A drug called Mobic, sold by Boehringer Ingelheim and Abbott Laboratories Inc. is among those picking up patients who are switching from Celebrex, the paper said. Last week Mobic gained 24,088 patients in the U.S., including 13,591 who had been prescribed Celebrex.

###