Germany will issue guidelines in the next few days to significantly restrict the use of so-called COX-2 inhibitors to ease pain, the country's drug regulator said on Monday. Patients who either have had a heart attack or stroke, suffer from circulatory disorders of the heart or are at a high risk of developing such conditions should no longer use the medications, the regulator said in a statement.

The regulator's remarks come close on the heels of comments by a US advisory panel on Friday that Merck & Co Inc's withdrawn COX-2 inhibitor arthritis drug, Vioxx, was safe enough to rejoin Pfizer's rival pain relievers, Celebrex and Bextra, on the US market.

Copyright Reuters, 2005