Update on the clinical pharmacology of etoricoxib, a potent cyclooxygenase-2 inhibitor

A review of the literature on etoricoxib, a highly selective cyclooxygenase (COX)-2 inhibitor, or coxib, which has been approved in 62 countries, was undertaken by the authors. Etoricoxib is an effective analgesic drug that has shown advantages over traditional nonsteroid anti-inflammatory drugs. These advantages include a lower incidence of gastrointestinal adverse events, a similar thrombotic cardiovascular risk profile, rapid action, 27-h effect, sustained long-term effects and effectiveness in the treatment of gouty arthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis and osteoarthritis. The recently concluded Multinational Etoricoxib and Diclofenac Arthritis Long-term (MEDAL) program compared etoricoxib with the most widely used NSAID in the world, diclofenac, in almost 35,000 patients with osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis under clinical practice conditions. This study confirmed a similar incidence of cardiovascular thrombotic events and renal dysfunction, a higher incidence of edema and hy...