Celebrex Research Paper

Pharmacology: Celebrex

Yiu Wing Man, Vanessa (13000332)

Celebrex: A powerful painkiller

Osteoarthritis is a chronic condition where breaking down the cartilage,causing stiffness, pain and loss of the joint movement. Celebrex (Celecoxib) is non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) which is prescribed to treat inflammation and pain. It is most typically used for treatment of acute pain and osteoarthritis to relief the symptoms and signs. People chose Celebrex rather than others for the same purpose because of its better ability to protect stomach from serious complications.

Some people have done clinical trials to find out the efficacy of Celebrex. Celebrex, a cyclo-oxygenase-2 (COX-2) inhibitor, is prescribed to relieve chronic pain

Cyclo-oxygenase could produce prostaglandins, which causes inflammation in response to certain diseases and injuries. Prostaglandin is a substance which causes pain, swelling and inflammation. NSAIDs works by blocking the actions of cyclo-oxygenase and hence blocking the production of the prostaglandins. That’s why Celebrex is efficient in pain-killing and inflammatory reaction.

COX-1 and COX-2 enzyme are two different forms of cyclo-oxygenase. The difference is that COX-1 enzyme did not produce inflammatory prostaglandins but protecting the lining in the gastrointestinal tract and has blood clotting and renal function while COX-2 enzyme produces prostaglandins causing the symptoms and signs associated with inflammation.

The classic one of NSAIDs, for example, ibuprofen blocks the action of both COX-1 and COX-2 enzyme, and that is why the side effects, for example, stomach irritation, are easily occur.

In contrast, Celecoxib, a new generation of NSAIDS, only stop the action of COX-2 enzyme, the enzyme in which it produces inflammatory prostaglandis by COX-2 inhibitor. Celecoxib, therefore, could keep the function of reliving pain and inflammation, and the advantage is to cause smaller side effects on the stomach and intestines compared to traditional

Terminal half-life of this drug is variable due to its low solubility that prolong the absorption process. The apparent clearance (CL/F) of a single oral 200mg dose of Celebrex in a healthy subjects is 27.7L/hr.

The indications of Celebrex is that it is always used for the management of acute surgical pain because of its comprehensive and analgesic abilities. Using Celebrex after surgery to relief the pain can greatly reduce the length of hospital-stay, accelerated physiotherapy and less side effect. Celebrex is also used for acute and chronic treatment of osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, to relief the signs and symptoms. Besides, Celebrex can help to reduce the number of colorectal polyps in familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP). FAP can eventually progress to colorectal cancer if not well treated. It has found that early treatment with celecoxib can significantly decrease the number of colorec¬tal polyps in patients who have FAP. Celebrex is also one of the analgesic drug for the treatment of mild to moderate cancer