A large, open-label study of proglumetacin in the treatment of patients with cervical and low-back pain

In an uncontrolled, open-label, multicenter study, 711 outpatients with either cervical pain (n = 200) or low-back pain (n = 511) received 450 mg/d of proglumetacin, a pro-drug of indomethacin. After 7 days of treatment, a highly significant reduction in pain and an improvement in function were observed in both groups of patients (P < 0.001). The incidence of side effects (10.5%), mainly gastrointestinal (8.7%), was low, especially compared with that associated with indomethacin. Approximately half (47%) of the patients who developed side effects were able to continue proglumetacin treatment; only 2% of all patients in the study had to discontinue the treatment. Thus proglumetacin appears to be a good alternative to indomethacin as a drug of choice for treating patients with cervical and low-back pain.