Clinical and biochemical assessment of anti-inflammatory substances.

To assess the efficiency of anti-inflammatory drugs in human beings one has first to choose between acute and chronic inflammatory diseases and the length of the trial according to their pharmacological properties determined in animal. Further clinical criteria of efficiency will be selected on the basis of their measurable and objective characteristics. Biological criteria becomes more and more useful to judge efficiency of the drugs which possess no or very little effect on acute phase of inflammation: inflammatory blood tests, urinary excretion of hydroxyproline and immunological analysis such as quantitative determinations of immuno-globulins and rheumatoid factors and lymphocytic functional tests. Finally, in vivo isotopic and thermometric methods also give interesting information on acute or chronic anti-inflammatory properties of drugs.