Are All Oral COX-2 Selective Inhibitors the Same? A Consideration of Celecoxib, Etoricoxib, and Diclofenac

Table 1

Comparison of the efficacy of celecoxib and etoricoxib in patients with OA.

Study	Comparator drugs and doses	Difference between etoricoxib and celecoxib in TWA change from baseline over 12 weeks
		WOMAC Pain Subscale; (100 mm VAS)	WOMAC Physical Function Subscale; (100 mm VAS)	PGADS; (100 mm VAS)
Bingham III et al. 2007 [14]	Etoricoxib; (30 mg OD),; celecoxib; (200 mg OD)	–3.12 (–7.02 to 0.77); p = 0.116	–1.74 (–5.53 to 2.05); p = 0.367	–4.05 (–8.11 to 0.02); p = 0.051
Bingham III et al. 2007 [14]	Etoricoxib; (30 mg OD),; celecoxib; (200 mg OD)	0.14 (–3.72 to 4.00); p = 0.943	–0.08 (–3.83 to 3.67); p = 0.967	0.06 (–3.90 to 4.02); p = 0.977
Yoo et al. 2014 [15]	Etoricoxib; (30 mg OD), celecoxib; (200 mg OD)	–1.63 (–5.37 to 2.10)	–1.32 (–4.88 to 2.23)	–1.09 (–5.84 to 3.30)

Unless indicated otherwise, all efficacy endpoints are primary (or coprimary), and all data is shown as difference in LS mean change (95% CI).
Etoricoxib is at least as effective as celecoxib when the upper bound of the 95% CI < 10 mm VAS. Negative mean difference value favors etoricoxib.
Secondary endpoints.
OA, osteoarthritis; TWA, time-weighted average; WOMAC, Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index; VAS, visual analog scale; PGADS, Patient Global Assessment of Disease Status; OD, once daily; LS, least squares.