Comparative efficacy of fenoprofen calcium and zomepirac sodium in postsurgical dental pain

The relative analgesic efficacy of zomepirac sodium 100 mg and fenoprofen calcium 200 mg was evaluated in patients with pain due to surgical removal of dental impactions. This is the first study to make a direct comparison of their effectiveness. This study is especially important since zomepirac sodium was recently removed from the market as an analgesic for acute pain. Zomepirac sodium was extremely popular among clinicians and was considered the most effective of the peripherally acting analgesics. Patients were requested to take a single dose of study medication when they had moderate to severe pain. The study medications were identical in appearance and randomly allocated under double-blind conditions. The medication was evaluated over the next 4 hours according to subjective analgesic measurement scales. The primary measures of efficacy included total pain relief (TOTPAR), sum pain intensity difference (SPID), overall evaluation, and time to remedication. Of the 136 patients entered, 117 were included in the efficacy analysis. Both active agents demonstrated marked superiority to placebo (P < 0.001) for all efficacy measures but were inseparable from each other. The mean analgesic efficacy values for both zomepirac sodium and fenoprofen calcium were almost identical. The nineteen subjects who reported side effects were evenly distributed among the three groups. No serious side effects occurred. The results of this study indicate that fenoprofen calcium 200 mg and zomepirac sodium 100 mg are equally efficacious, with similar onset, peak, and total analgesic effects.