Comparison of aceclofenac with diclofenac in the treatment of osteoarthritis.

A multicentre randomised, double-blind, parallel group, general practice study was undertaken to investigate the efficacy and safety of aceclofenac (200 patients, 100 mg twice daily and placebo once daily) in comparison with diclofenac (197 patients, 50mg three times daily) in patients with osteoarthritis of the knee. The treatment period of twelve weeks was preceded by a washout period of two weeks duration. At end point, patients in both aceclofenac and diclofenac-treated groups exhibited significant improvement in pain intensity (p = 0.0001). Although both treatment groups showed significant improvement in all investigators' clinical assessments (joint tenderness, swelling, pain on movement, functional capacity, overall assessment), there were no significant differences between the groups. There was, however, a trend towards greater improvement in complete knee movement and reduced pain on movement with aceclofenac. In patients with initial flexion deformity, aceclofenac was significantly more effective than diclofenac in improving knee flexion after 2-4 weeks treatment. Patients' subjective assessment of pain relief demonstrated significantly greater efficacy with aceclofenac. At end point, 71% of patients in the aceclofenac group reported improvement in pain intensity as compared to 59% treated with diclofenac (p = 0.005). Tolerability of aceclofenac was better than with diclofenac as fewer patients experienced gastrointestinal adverse events. In particular, the incidence of treatment related diarrhoea was less with aceclofenac (1%) than the diclofenac (6.6%). In summary, this study supports a therapeutic role for aceclofenac in arthritis and suggests that it is an alternative NSAID to diclofenac in the treatment of osteoarthritis.