Comparison of two ibuprofen formulations in the treatment of shoulder tendonitis

In order to compare the efficacy and tolerance of two drug formulations of ibuprofen, conventional tablets 600 mg QID (CI) and sustained-release tablets 1200 mg BID (SRI), a total of 147 patients in 7 centres in Denmark with nontraumatic shoulder pain were included in a double-blind dummy study. Initially all patients received a local injection of corticosteroid and local anaesthetic, and were randomly allocated either drug (CI or SRI) for a period of 3 weeks. Complete relief was recorded from significantly more of the patients in the CI group (21%) than in the SRI group (7%) while a similar number of patients improved viz., 67% of the SRI treated group and 77% of the CI treated group. Based on doctor's assessment improvement in the two groups was equal. 44% of the patients recorded side effects, the number and pattern being the same in the two groups. No serious side effects were recorded. It is concluded that the two treatment regimens can be rated as clinically equivalent.