Treatment of patients with osteoarthritis with rofecoxib compared with nabumetone.

BACKGROUND: Rofecoxib and nabumetone were developed to provide gastrointestinal benefits over traditional nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs (NSAIDs). However, there is limited comparative information relating to these 2 drugs. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to compare rofecoxib and nabumetone, at their lower, recommended doses, in patients with osteoarthritis (OA). METHODS: Nine hundred seventy-eight patients with knee OA and a positive history of NSAID response were randomized to 12.5 mg rofecoxib per day (N=390), nabumetone 500 mg twice a day (N=392), or placebo (N=196) for 6 weeks. The primary efficacy end point was percent of patients with a "good" or "excellent" Patient Global Assessment of Response to Therapy (PGART) at week 6; PGART was also evaluated over days 1 to 6. Additional end points included investigator assessment of response, pain walking over 6 days and 6 weeks, joint tenderness, discontinuation as a result of lack of efficacy, and quality of life. Adverse experiences (AEs) were collected. RESULTS: Significantly more rofecoxib (50.4%) than nabumetone (43.3%, P=0.043) or placebo (29.5%, P<0.001) patients had a good or excellent PGART at week 6. Median time to a good or excellent PGART was significantly shorter with rofecoxib (52 hours) than nabumetone (100 hours, P=0.001) or placebo (>124 hours, P<0.001). Results for rofecoxib and nabumetone were similar in all additional end points except pain in walking over 6 days and 6 weeks, in both of which the rofecoxib treatment group demonstrated better results. There were significantly (P<0.050) more overall and serious AEs and discontinuations resulting from AEs with rofecoxib than nabumetone. Five rofecoxib and one nabumetone patients had confirmed thrombotic cardiovascular events (P=0.123). Information on thrombotic cardiovascular events from this study was included in a published, prespecified pooled analysis and is included here for completeness. CONCLUSIONS: At their recommended starting doses for OA, both agents were more effective than placebo. Rofecoxib at a dosage of 12.5 mg demonstrated significantly better efficacy in PGART than 1000 mg nabumetone in these patients known to be NSAID responders. Significantly more AEs occurred with rofecoxib than nabumetone. Considering these data and other recent safety information regarding cyclooxygenase-2 selective and nonselective NSAIDS, physicians must make risk/benefit assessments for each individual patient when considering the use of these agents, as recommended by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

Efficacy and safety of rofecoxib 12.5 mg versus nabumetone 1,000 mg in patients with osteoarthritis of the knee: a randomized controlled trial.

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the use of starting doses of rofecoxib and nabumetone in patients with osteoarthritis (OA) of the knee. DESIGN: A 6-week, randomized, parallel-group, double-blind, placebo-controlled study. SETTING: One hundred thirteen outpatient sites in the United States. PARTICIPANTS: A total of 1,042 male and female patients aged 40 and older with OA of the knee (>6 months). INTERVENTIONS: Rofecoxib 12.5 mg once a day (n=424), nabumetone 1,000 mg once a day (n=410), or placebo (n=208) for 6 weeks. MEASUREMENTS: The primary efficacy endpoint was patient global assessment of response to therapy (PGART) over 6 weeks, which was also specifically evaluated over the first 6 days. The main safety measure was adverse events during the 6 weeks of treatment. RESULTS: The percentage of patients with a good or excellent response to therapy as assessed using PGART at Week 6 was significantly higher with rofecoxib (55.4%) than nabumetone (47.5%; P=.018) or placebo (26.7%; P<.001 vs rofecoxib or nabumetone). Median time to first report of a good or excellent PGART response was significantly shorter in patients treated with rofecoxib (2 days) than with nabumetone (4 days, P=.002) and placebo (>5 days, P<.001) (nabumetone vs placebo; P=.007). The safety profiles of rofecoxib and nabumetone were generally similar, including gastrointestinal, hypertensive, and renal adverse events. CONCLUSION: Rofecoxib 12.5 mg daily demonstrated better efficacy over 6 weeks of treatment and quicker onset of OA efficacy over the first 6 days than nabumetone 1,000 mg daily. Both therapies were generally well tolerated.

Efficacy and safety profile of treatment with etoricoxib 120 mg once daily compared with indomethacin 50 mg three times daily in acute gout: a randomized controlled trial.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of etoricoxib and indomethacin in the treatment of patients with acute gout. METHODS: A randomized, double-blind, active-comparator study was conducted at 42 sites. A total of 189 men and women (> or =18 years of age) who were experiencing an acute attack (< or =48 hours) of clinically diagnosed gout were treated for 8 days with etoricoxib, 120 mg/day (n = 103), or indomethacin, 50 mg 3 times a day (n = 86). The primary efficacy end point was the patient's assessment of pain in the study joint (0-4-point Likert scale) over days 2-5. Safety was assessed by adverse experiences (AEs) occurring during the trial. RESULTS: Etoricoxib demonstrated clinical efficacy comparable to that of indomethacin in terms of the patient's assessment of pain in the study joint. The difference in the mean change from baseline over days 2-5 was -0.08 (95% confidence interval -0.29, 0.13) (P = 0.46), which fell within the prespecified comparability bounds of -0.5 to 0.5. Secondary end points over the 8-day study, including the onset of efficacy, reduction in signs of inflammation, and patient's and investigator's global assessments of response to therapy, confirmed the comparable efficacy of the two treatments. The etoricoxib-treated patients had a numerically lower incidence of AEs (43.7%) than did the indomethacin-treated patients (57.0%) and a significantly lower incidence of drug-related AEs (16.5% versus 37.2%; P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: Etoricoxib at a dosage of 120 mg once daily was confirmed to be an effective treatment for acute gout. Etoricoxib was comparable in efficacy to indomethacin at a dosage of 50 mg 3 times daily, and it was generally safe and well tolerated.