Animalcare is excited to launch Daxocox (enflicoxib, a selective COX-2 inhibitor), the first and only weekly oral NSAID. Daxocox not only achieves significant improvement of clinical signs associated with the pain of osteoarthritis (OA) in dogs, but also helps reduce the risk of breakthrough pain.
Breakthrough pain is defined as “an abrupt, short-lived, and intense pain that breaks through the analgesia that controls pain”. Risk factors for breakthrough pain in cases of canine OA include poor owner compliance, variable plasma drug levels between doses, natural or exercise induced flare-ups and disease progression. Vets estimate that nearly half of their canine OA cases on daily NSAIDs experience breakthrough pain, with owner reports placing potential prevalence much higher, at 80 percent.
As well as compromising patient welfare and increasing the risk of clinical consequences such as wind-up pain (hypersensitisation), breakthrough pain risks owners losing confidence in their vet and/or the recommended treatment plan for their dog. This may lead owners to independently stray from the treatment plan, with potentially damaging consequences. 87 percent of vets agree that avoiding breakthrough pain is critical to the management of canine OA.
Daxocox helps reduce the risk of breakthrough pain by providing consistent pain control with a single weekly dose, given at home by the owner. This is achieved thanks to its seven-day phasic pharmacology. Therapeutic plasma levels are kept stable for seven days due to phases of slow formation, binding (to red blood cells and plasma proteins) and slow elimination of the active metabolite. This metabolite has COX-2 inhibitory action, and so the clinical effects also last for seven days. Meanwhile, the parent drug levels are reduced to basal levels before the next dose is due, so Daxocox can be given continually, with no risk of over-accumulation or need for mandatory treatment “breaks”.
With adverse effects noted as no different from any other NSAID and no increase in treatment related adverse effects at up to five times the recommended dose, Daxocox has a broad margin of safety and is well tolerated by dogs.
James Beaumont, marketing manager at Animalcare, explains more about Daxocox’s unique offering: “Daxocox’s weekly administration of a flavoured tablet addresses some of the challenges of managing canine OA that I’m certain most vets will identify with. Breakthrough pain is a real problem and by being able to provide consistent pain control, in a compliance friendly formulation, Daxocox is a real game changer for canine OA management.
“We’re really excited to bring this product to market and the potential that it has to improve the lives of dogs living with OA,” James continues.
More information about Daxocox can be found at the website or by contacting your local Animalcare territory manager, or Animalcare’s head office on 01904 487687.
