Arthritis Pain Medication

As many of America's 23 million arthritis sufferers know all too well, the pills that provide welcome relief from joint pain and inflammation may, over time, also cause stomach trouble, ranging from occasional heartburn to fatal intestinal bleeding. These aspirin-like drugs, known as non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), are sold over the counter under such brand names as Aleve and Motrin and in more than 40 prescription-only varieties.

All told, about 33 million Americans swallow nearly $2 billion worth of prescription NSAIDs each year.

That's why there's been so much excitement about Celebrex, a new drug that's supposed to offer NSAIDs' benefits without their risks to the digestive tract. Celebrex has been the talk of Wall Street drug analysts since 1996; investors bid up Monsanto (whose G.D. Searle unit developed Celebrex) and Merck (developers of Vioxx) on the assumption that the drugs would revolutionize arthritis treatment--and consequently sell like gangbusters.

Before Celebrex made its debut, health plans warned about its expense, and some went so far as to charge a high co-payment to discourage overuse. It turns out they overstated the case. For consumers who pay for their own prescriptions, Celebrex costs around $67 a month--nearly 10 times as much as prescription-strength ibuprofen but in the same range as the popular prescription NSAIDs Relafen and Etodolac (the generic form of Lodine).

All three more-established medications cause fewer severe stomach problems than many other arthritis drugs, according to a federally funded research program known as Arthritis Rheumatism and Aging Medical Information System (ARAMIS), which has monitored patients on various arthritis drugs since 1978 (see the information in the table). Data on Celebrex are not yet available from the ARAMIS program