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. 1999 Jan 23;353(9149):307-14.
doi: 10.1016/s0140-6736(98)12154-2.

COX-2 inhibitors

C J Hawkey  1
Affiliations

COX-2 inhibitors

C J Hawkey. Lancet. .

Abstract

In the past 100 years aspirin has demonstrated its value as an analgesic, anti-inflammatory, and antithrombotic agent. However, by 1938, it was clear that aspirin was gastrotoxic. Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), developed since the 1960s, failed to achieve the goal of "a safer aspirin". The demonstration that inhibition of prostaglandin synthesis via a cyclo-oxygenase (COX) enzyme was central to both the therapeutic and toxic effects of aspirin and non-aspirin NSAIDs appeared to establish the principle of no gain without pain. This link may have been broken by drugs that selectively inhibit the inducible COX-2 enzyme. The COX enzyme is now a target of drug interventions against the inflammatory process. Might the "safe aspirin" be here at last?

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Comment in

  • COX-2 inhibitors.
    Tustin T. Tustin T. Lancet. 1999 Apr 24;353(9162):1439; author reply 1440. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(99)00074-4. Lancet. 1999. PMID: 10227242 No abstract available.
  • COX-2 inhibitors.
    Russell RI. Russell RI. Lancet. 1999 Apr 24;353(9162):1439-40. doi: 10.1016/s0140-6736(05)75960-2. Lancet. 1999. PMID: 10227243 No abstract available.
  • COX-2 inhibitors.
    Bjarnason I. Bjarnason I. Lancet. 1999 Apr 24;353(9162):1440. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(05)75961-4. Lancet. 1999. PMID: 10227244 No abstract available.

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