A Look at Drugs Known As Cox-2 Inhibitors

When the drugs known as cox-2 inhibitors first hit the market around the start of this decade, there was great enthusiasm for them – first as non-irritating pain relievers and later as potential cancer prevention drugs.

They were developed as alternatives to aspirin, ibuprofen and similar nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, known as NSAIDS.

NSAIDS shut off production of prostaglandins, substances that cause inflammation but which also have benefits. They do this by interfering with an enzyme called cyclooxygenase, or cox, which the body needs to make prostaglandins.

In the late 1980s, scientists found two varieties of cox: Cox-1 promotes normal body functions, making blood clot and protecting the lining of the stomach. Cox-2 acts with injury and illness, causing pain and inflammation.

So researchers designed drugs that would specifically block cox-2, rather than both kinds of cox, as aspirin does. These cox-2 inhibitors relieve arthritis pain, while usually having little effect on the stomach. That made them popular with people whose stomachs were sensitive to aspirin and other NSAIDS.

Research has also indicated cox-2 drugs might ward off cancer, and now there are several studies of that possibility.

But these drugs can also raise blood pressure and now more studies are linking them an increased risk of heart problems.