A double-blind study comparing benoxaprofen, aspirin, and benoxaprofen plus aspirin in patients with rheumatoid arthritis.

Ten patients with rheumatoid arthritis completed a study that consisted of 30-day treatment periods with aspirin, benoxaprofen, and benoxaprofen plus aspirin. There were two-week placebo washouts between each treatment. The patients were evaluated biweekly for 15 variables. Each variable was compared for each period; a pooled index was calculated on three combinations of variables. The benoxaprofen-plus-aspirin combination was significantly better than aspirin and better than benoxaprofen alone. This study indicates that combining nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs which inhibit different sites of the inflammatory response (i.e., benoxaprofen, an inhibitor of the directional migration of monocytes, with aspirin, a potent inhibitor of prostaglandin synthesis) may be advantageous in treating patients with rheumatoid arthritis.