Background: Cimicoxib is a coxib recently licensed in Europe for pain and inflammation associated with osteoarthritis (OA), and the management of perioperative pain due to orthopaedic or soft tissue surgery. Purpose: This prospective study was to complete the product information for the end users by providing additional scientific data obtained after a thirty-day treatment course of cimicoxib in dogs with OA, and to collect owners’ feedback. Data were collected from nine European countries with 492 client owned dogs recruited to the trial. Dogs were treated once daily with 2 mg/kg cimicoxib orally. Immediately before, at Day (D) 15 and D30 after the start of treatment veterinarians and owners scored body condition, appetite, locomotion, lameness, pain on palpation and manipulation of the joint and joint effusion (veterinarians) and dog demeanor and well being (owners). In a subset of dogs, serum urea (n = 191), creatinine (n = 184), AST (n = 141) and ALT (n = 174) were measured at day (D) 0 and D30. Statistical tests were carried out to detect significant changes in the clinical parameters with time. Results and Discussion: Veterinary and owner assessments were analysed from 236 and 215 dogs respectively. Improvements in locomotion, mobility, pain scores and dog demeanor and body condition were identified; outcome measures assessed by veterinarians continued to improve after 15 days of treatment up to the 30-day time point. At D30 a significantly higher number of dogs had an urea concentration superior to the upper limit of the reference range. However, there was no significant difference for creatinine, ALT and AST. Conclusions: A 30-day treatment course with cimicoxib improved locomotion and decreased pain scores in dogs with OA, with minimal adverse effects. These data, support pre-clinical data in dogs receiving cimicoxib and are useful for veterinarians making decisions about which NSAID to administer to dogs that require pain management for OA.
Serum biochemistry was available for a subset of the dogs that completed the study in order to monitor changes in urea, creatinine, ALT and AST over the 30-day treatment period although collection of blood samples was not a prerequisite for inclusion in the study. Thus, the aim was to collect population data about changes in these biochemical parameters over a 30-day treatment course with cimicoxib, rather than track changes in these variables over time in individual animals. The blood samples were not analysed in a standard manner, with a variety of different analysers being used to measure all biochemical parameters, although studies generally report good consistency between laboratories for the biochemical parameters measured in the present study, and between laboratory and bench top point of care analysers [
Gastro-intestinal side effects associated with NSAID administration are a significant cause for concern amongst veterinarians [
This survey demonstrated improvements in locomotion, mobility, pain scores and dog demeanor and body condition in dogs treated with cimicoxib for thirty days by both owners and veterinarians and provides evidence that these outcome measures, as measured by veterinarians continue to improve after 15 days of treatment up to the 30-day time point. However, these data must be interpreted with knowledge of limitations in the study design, which will have likely resulted in measurement bias for the different outcome variables. Data relating to the use of a new NSAID in the field environment are useful for veterinarians making decisions about which NSAID to administer to dogs that require pain management for OA.
The authors would like to thank Gary Coxon MRCVS for his technical expertise in the design of the study.