New osteoarthritis clinical trial okays anti-inflammatory drug

PRAGUE – In a unique managed care clinical trial, Mobic (meloxicam), designed to relieve the signs and symptoms of osteoarthritis, showed significantly greater "patient success" than other commonly used prescription nonsteroid anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs).

The randomized study, which compared Mobic to "usual care," or whatever prescription-NSAID patients’ individual physicians selected as their osteoarthritis treatment, was presented for the first time at the Annual European Congress of Rheumatology in this city.

The usual care treatment group included other prescription osteoarthritis medicines such as piroxicam, diclofenac, naproxen, celebrex (celecoxib) and vioxx (rofecoxib).

"The difference in patient success between Mobic and the usual care NSAID group is clinically meaningful and important for both patients and physicians," said Dr. Gurkirpal Singh of Stanford University Medical School, an investigator in the trial.

"Patients taking Mobic were considerably more satisfied with their treatment, which suggests to us that Mobic is an important treatment alternative for osteoarthritis – one that seems to work well and that patients can tolerate," Singh added.

The trial, called IMPROVE (Impact of Meloxicam on Prescription Regimens in Osteoarthritis vs. Everyday Care), found that more than two-thirds (67 percent) of patients taking Mobic were classified as successes, compared to less than half (45 percent) of patients in the usual care group, with a range of 22 percent to 62 percent.

Treatment success was defined as patients completing the trial without changing treatments, or those who no longer needed an NSAID for their osteoarthritis care.

As with many osteoarthritis patients, the main reason for study patients to change or discontinue their NSAID treatment was lack of efficacy or the presence of adverse events, such as intolerable gastrointestinal (stomach) side-effects.

After six months of therapy, fewer osteoarthritis patients taking Mobic discontinued or switched their treatment because of lack of efficacy or side-effects, including gastrointestinal side-effects, compared to patients treated with other commonly used NSAIDs.

Moreover, when patients rated their satisfaction with their osteoarthritis care after six months of therapy, those taking Mobic were significantly more satisfied than those taking the usual care NSAIDs.

The IMPROVE trial followed more than 1,300 osteoarthritis patients for six months and measured patient satisfaction and treatment success.

Arthritis affects about 43 million patients in the United States alone, 20 million of whom suffer from osteoarthritis, a chronic disease characterized by joint pain, swelling, stiffness and reduced mobility.

Mobic is an NSAID developed by Boehringer Ingelheim for the symptomatic treatment of painful osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis and ankylosing spondylitis (indications may vary from country to country).

Mobic has been used by more than 45 million patients in 100 countries. Classified pharmacologically as a selective COX-2 inhibitor, it offers a balance between reliable efficacy and overall safety, including a favorable gastrointestinal tolerability profile.