Nabumetone compared with indomethacin in the treatment of osteoarthritis in general practice.

In a double blind, randomized, parallel group study, 197 patients with osteoarthritis (OA) received nabumetone (1000 mg/day) or indomethacin (75 mg/day) for 6 weeks and doses could be doubled. Doubling the dose resulted in a 100 or 67% increase in pain relief with nabumetone or indomethacin, respectively. Significantly more patients experienced at least 1 severe adverse event with indomethacin than with nabumetone.

Nabumetone compared with naproxen in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis: a multicenter, double blind, randomized, parallel group trial in hospital outpatients.

In this double blind, randomized, parallel group study, 298 patients with rheumatoid arthritis received nabumetone (2000 mg/day) or naproxen (1000 mg/day) for 3 months. At the end point, nabumetone treated patients exhibited significant improvement in pain, Ritchie articular index, and duration of morning stiffness when compared to baseline. In contrast, naproxen treated patients showed significant improvement only in Ritchie articular index.

A pharmacokinetic study of the active metabolite of nabumetone in young healthy subjects and older arthritis patients.

We have performed a detailed pharmacokinetic study of the plasma concentrations of the major active metabolite of nabumetone, 6-methoxy-2-naphthylacetic acid (6 MNA), attained after a single dose and during chronic administration comparing the results of a group of young healthy volunteers with those of a group of elderly arthritic patients. The latter had higher peak plasma concentrations of 6 MNA and slower rates of elimination but there is no tendency for the drug to accumulate unpredictably in the old. Disease activity also influences plasma concentration, those with more active disease, and lower serum albumin concentrations had lower AUC values.