Does etoricoxib provide efficacy and reduced gastrointestinal adverse effects without increasing cardiovascular risk compared to NSAIDs or other selective COX-2 inhibitors?
Further study is necessary to delineate the benefits and cardiovascular risks of etoricoxib compared with alternative treatment regimens.
Available studies demonstrate the efficacy of etoricoxib compared with nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs, but no published studies to date have compared etoricoxib with other selective COX-2 inhibitors. While these agents have demonstrated a significant reduction in gastrointestinal adverse effects, the cardiovascular adverse effects of selective COX-2 inhibition are not well defined. Further study is necessary to delineate the benefits and risks of etoricoxib compared with alternative treatment regimens.
Martina et al. (Wed,) studied this question.