Meloxicam is usually used for the treatment of pain, inflammation or swelling caused by osteoarthritis and may also be used in conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis or ankylosing spondylitis.
EquiTech believes their novel tablet formulation improves absorption into the blood stream. This suggestion follows data from the company’s proprietary pain-mimicking animal model in which the new formulation was compared to a currently available meloxicam formulation.
“Results from our labs show that we can enhance the absorption of meloxicam over ten fold,” said Dr Fakhreddin Jamali, the chief scientific officer of EquiTech.
Meloxicam is a cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) inhibitor which is usually administered in oral form. EquiTech’s new formulation of the meloxicam tablet is ready to be manufactured for clinical trial testing in humans.
EquiTech is working on the development of more effective versions of oral drugs that achieve therapeutic effectiveness using less medication, as compared to currently available formulations. EquiTech’s scientists believe that the chemical structure of meloxicam may result in this particular COX-2 drug having a lower potential for cardiovascular side effects compared to other COX-2 drugs (now withdrawn from the market and under safety review by the FDA).