Prexige patients avoid BP increase of NSAIDS

Swiss drug major Novartis says that osteoarthritis patients who also have controlled hypertension experienced a slight decrease in average daily blood pressure when treated with the selective COX-2 inhibitor Prexige (lumiracoxib) compared to a small increase in those taking ibuprofen, a commonly-used non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug. According to the firm, these results, which were presented at the European League Against Rheumatism's annual congress, held in Barcelona, Spain, are important because around 40% of patients with osteoarthritis also have high blood pressure. The drug is under review by the US Food and Drug Administration for this indication.

The four-week, multicenter, randomized, double-blind, double-dummy, parallel group trial of 787 hypertensive osteoarthritis patients found a drop in mean ambulatory systolic blood pressure of 2.7 mmHg compared to a 2.2mmHg increase in subjects taking ibuprofen, giving an estimated difference of 5.0mmHg between the groups (p<0.001). Mean ambulatory diastolic blood pressure decreased 1.5mmHg in Prexige patients compared to a 0.5mmHg increase in those on ibuprofen, an estimated difference of 2.0mmHg (p<0.001).