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CompletedNCT00250445Updated Feb 18, 2022

A Study to Evaluate the Safety of an Investigational Drug (Etoricoxib) in Patients With Osteoarthritis (OA) or Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA)(0663-066)

A Phase 3 interventional study of MK0663, etoricoxib and Comparator: Diclofenac sodium in Rheumatoid Arthritis,Osteoarthritis, sponsored by Organon and Co. Completed. Open to participants aged 50 Years and older. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2022-02-18.

Sponsored by Organon and Co · Phase 3, Interventional, and Treatment

Phase
Phase 3
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
23,498
Allocation
Randomized
Ages
50 Years and older
Sex
All
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Study summary

The study is designed to compare the risk of cardiovascular events (heart attacks, strokes) in patients receiving either etoricoxib or diclofenac. It will also compare the gastrointestinal tolerability of the two medicines. The study will be conducted in patients with either rheumatoid or osteo-arthritis.

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Conditions studied

  • Rheumatoid Arthritis,Osteoarthritis

Keywords

  • Arcoxia
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In context

Arthritis, Rheumatoid

2,962 studies on the registry are indexed under Arthritis, Rheumatoid; 396 are open to participants now.

This study's enrollment of 23,498 is above the median of 94 across 2,027 interventional studies indexed under Arthritis, Rheumatoid.

Browse Arthritis, Rheumatoid studies →

Lead sponsor

Organon and Co is the lead sponsor of 505 studies on the registry; none are open to participants now.

Of its 22 completed or terminated interventional studies of FDA-regulated products, 18 (82%) have results posted.

Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.

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Who can participate

Ages eligible
50 Years and older
Sexes eligible
All
Accepts healthy volunteers
No

Go through the criteria one by one — yes, no or not sure — and take the list to your doctor or the study team. Kept in this browser only.

Inclusion criteria

  • Patient has a clinical diagnosis of either Osteoarthritis or Rheumatoid Arthritis and in the opinion of the investigator will require chronic nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory or COX-2 inhibitor therapy for at least 1.5 years

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Concurrent medical or arthritic disease that could confound or interfere with efficacy evaluation.
  • Concomitant therapy of warfarin, heparin, high-dose aspirin (>100 mg/day).
  • Impaired kidney function, clinical gastrointestinal malabsorption, congestive heart failure with symptoms that occur at rest, unstable angina, uncontrolled high blood pressure, active hepatitis/hepatic disease
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Study design

Phase
Phase 3
Primary purpose
Treatment
Allocation
Randomized
Intervention model
Parallel assignment
Masking
Double (Participant, Investigator)
Enrollment
23,498 participants (actual)
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What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Incidence of Confirmed Thrombotic Cardiovascular Serious Adverse Experiences based on combined data from this trial and MK0663 Protocols 061 & 072 (GI Tolerability in OA Patients and GI Tolerability Study in RA Patients ), respectively.

Secondary outcomes

  1. Incidence of Confirmed Thrombotic Cardiovascular Serious Adverse Experiences from this trial alone. Gastrointestinal tolerability based on the percentage of patients that discontinue for clinical or laboratory gastrointestinal adverse experiences.

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Study locations

No study locations are listed for this record.

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References and documents

Publications

  • Cannon CP, Curtis SP, FitzGerald GA, Krum H, Kaur A, Bolognese JA, Reicin AS, Bombardier C, Weinblatt ME, van der Heijde D, Erdmann E, Laine L; MEDAL Steering Committee. Cardiovascular outcomes with etoricoxib and diclofenac in patients with osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis in the Multinational Etoricoxib and Diclofenac Arthritis Long-term (MEDAL) programme: a randomised comparison. Lancet. 2006 Nov 18;368(9549):1771-81. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(06)69666-9. PubMed 17113426 ↗
  • Laine L, Curtis SP, Cryer B, Kaur A, Cannon CP; MEDAL Steering Committee. Assessment of upper gastrointestinal safety of etoricoxib and diclofenac in patients with osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis in the Multinational Etoricoxib and Diclofenac Arthritis Long-term (MEDAL) programme: a randomised comparison. Lancet. 2007 Feb 10;369(9560):465-73. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(07)60234-7. PubMed 17292766 ↗
  • Krum H, Curtis SP, Kaur A, Wang H, Smugar SS, Weir MR, Laine L, Brater DC, Cannon CP. Baseline factors associated with congestive heart failure in patients receiving etoricoxib or diclofenac: multivariate analysis of the MEDAL program. Eur J Heart Fail. 2009 Jun;11(6):542-50. doi: 10.1093/eurjhf/hfp054. Epub 2009 Apr 19. PubMed 19380329 ↗
  • Laine L, Curtis SP, Langman M, Jensen DM, Cryer B, Kaur A, Cannon CP. Lower gastrointestinal events in a double-blind trial of the cyclo-oxygenase-2 selective inhibitor etoricoxib and the traditional nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug diclofenac. Gastroenterology. 2008 Nov;135(5):1517-25. doi: 10.1053/j.gastro.2008.07.067. Epub 2008 Aug 3. PubMed 18823986 ↗
  • Laine L, Goldkind L, Curtis SP, Connors LG, Yanqiong Z, Cannon CP. How common is diclofenac-associated liver injury? Analysis of 17,289 arthritis patients in a long-term prospective clinical trial. Am J Gastroenterol. 2009 Feb;104(2):356-62. doi: 10.1038/ajg.2008.149. Epub 2009 Jan 27. PubMed 19174782 ↗
  • Combe B, Swergold G, McLay J, McCarthy T, Zerbini C, Emery P, Connors L, Kaur A, Curtis S, Laine L, Cannon CP. Cardiovascular safety and gastrointestinal tolerability of etoricoxib vs diclofenac in a randomized controlled clinical trial (The MEDAL study). Rheumatology (Oxford). 2009 Apr;48(4):425-32. doi: 10.1093/rheumatology/kep005. Epub 2009 Feb 17. PubMed 19223284 ↗
  • Krum H, Swergold G, Curtis SP, Kaur A, Wang H, Smugar SS, Weir MR, Laine L, Brater DC, Cannon CP. Factors associated with blood pressure changes in patients receiving diclofenac or etoricoxib: results from the MEDAL study. J Hypertens. 2009 Apr;27(4):886-93. doi: 10.1097/HJH.0b013e328325d831. PubMed 19516186 ↗
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Timeline

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
Not marked actual or estimatedDates not marked actual or estimated

The record gives a start of Jan 2003, a primary completion of May 2006 and a completion of May 2006. It does not say whether these dates are actual or estimated.

How these figures are worked out, and which studies are left out of them.

Registered
Nov 7, 2005
First posted
Nov 8, 2005
Start
Jan 2003
Primary completionActual
May 2006
CompletionActual
May 2006
Last update
Feb 18, 2022
What these dates mean
Start.
When the first participant enrolled; while estimated, when the study expects to open to recruitment.
Primary completion.
When the last participant was examined or treated to collect data for the study's main question, its primary outcome. A study that stopped early gives the date its data collection stopped.
Completion.
When the last participant's last visit took place, for every outcome, secondary ones and side effects included: the end of the study. Often later than primary completion, sometimes the same day.
Actual and Est.
Actual means the registry says the date has happened. Est. (estimated) is a date the sponsor plans or expects. It can still move, and the sponsor is expected to change it to actual once it has passed.
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on Feb 18, 2022, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
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Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT00250445
Lead sponsor
Organon and Co
Responsible party
Sponsor
First posted
Nov 8, 2005
Start date
Jan 2003
Primary completion
May 2006
Completion
May 2006
Last update
Feb 18, 2022

Study contacts

Medical Monitor
study director · Merck Sharp & Dohme LLC
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

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This study is completed, as verified in Feb 2022. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.

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