Isoxicam and indomethacin in acute osteo-arthritis. A GP multicentre double-blind comparison

A study was conducted in general practice to assess the efficacy and safety of isoxicam 200 mg once daily compared with indomethacin 25 mg 3 times a day in the treatment of acute exacerbations of osteo-arthritis. The trial was conducted as a multicentre, double-blind, randomized parallel-group study with 'dummy loading' of the medications. Thirty-one general practitioners entered 309 patients in the study. Of these, 139 patients on isoxicam and 137 on indomethacin completed the treatment. The most common sites of osteo-arthritis were the knee (100 patients) and the hip (79 patients). On examination at 7 days and 14 days there was a significant improvement in both treatment groups. After 7 days the reduction of pain and clinical symptoms of osteo-arthritis of the hip and knee was significant for both drugs at the P less than 0,001 level. There thus appeared to be no difference in clinical efficacy between the drugs. Eight patients in the isoxicam group experienced definite drug-related adverse reactions as against 19 in the indomethacin group. A total of 38 patients (18 on isoxicam and 20 on indomethacin) suffered probably drug-related effects. Isoxicam therefore appeared to be better tolerated than indomethacin.