Health

Arthritis Relief Without Pain

By CBSNews.com staff CBSNews.com staff

November 11, 1998 / 5:38 PM EST / CBS

For the seven years she's had arthritis, 49-year-old Teresa Rato has tried a long list of anti-inflammatory painkillers that had the same unfortunate side-effect: they made her sick to her stomach, as CBS News Correspondent Elizabeth Kaledin reports.

"It got so bad that I couldn't go to work, because I couldn't eat right, I was throwing up, and there was nausea, gastrointestinal problems," Rato remembers.

For Teresa and millions of other arthritis sufferers, a new class of painkillers on the horizon may be the answer. They're called cox-2 inhibitors.

Early clinical trials of the drugs suggest they are just as effective in treating arthritis pain without the stomach upset and potentially dangerous ulcers caused by the current arsenal of painkillers.

"This is really the next generation of those drugs which appear to be just as effective, but probably safer," says rheumatologist Steven Abramson.

Two separate drugs are currently undergoing trials. They are called cox-2 inhibitors because they suppress an enzyme that causes the painful inflammation associated with arthritis. Dr. Brian Golden says his patients have been clamoring for alternatives.

"Patients have already come asking for prescriptions for these medications," says Golden. "There's a great deal of excitement among sufferers of arthritis that these will be the new wonder drugs."

That still remains to be seen. The F.D.A. will decide as early as December whether or not to make cox-2 inhibitors widely available, giving millions of arthritis sufferers something new to ease their pain.