Meloxicam: A toxicology overview

Abstract

Meloxicam is a new potent non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID), which in animal tests exhibits potential antiarthritic action and has a wider spectrum of anti-inflammatory activity than currently available NSAIDs. Toxicological testing of meloxicam in animals suggests that acute oral overdosage is unlikely to cause severe toxicity in man. Compared with other NSAIDs, meloxicam has a relatively weak effect on gastric acid secretion and on ulceration in the rat stomach. Whereas most NSAIDs can cause parenchymal kidney damage in animals at low plasma levels and over relatively short periods, meloxicam only induces such damage in the rat over the longer term. Meloxicam preferentially inhibits cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2), rather than cyclooxygenase-1 (COX-1), which may explain its good gastric and renal tolerability. Meloxicam was chondroneutral in long-term studies in rats and mice. It was significantly less phototoxic in vitro than diclofenac, ketoprofen and naproxen, but similar to piroxicam and tenoxicam. There was no evidence of mutagenic, clastogenic, teratogenic or tumorigenic activity on immunogenic potential.