Nimesulide is a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) with pain medication and fever reducing properties. Its approved indications are the treatment of acute pain and primary dysmenorrhoea in adolescents and adults above 12 years old.
Nimesulide was launched in Italy for the first time as Aulin® and Mesulid® in 1985 and is available in more than 30 countries.
This product is not available in the USA.
How does nimesulide work?
Acute pain is part of an early warning system aimed at minimizing physical harm and avoiding tissue damage from environmental stimuli.
Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) play a crucial role in the management of acute inflammatory pain.
Nimesulide is a non-acidic nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID), with rapid and extensive absorption at the stomach and small bowel level and a short half life (1.8 - 4.7 hours). Nimesulide is a preferential COX-2 inhibitor with a multifactorial mode of action, particularly suitable for the treatment of inflammatory pain.
More about pain and inflammation
Pain can be broadly divided into three classes:
- Nociceptive pain represents the sensation associated with the detection of potentially tissue-damaging noxious stimuli and is protective.
- Inflammatory pain is associated with tissue damage and the infiltration of immune cells and can promote repair by causing pain hypersensitivity.
- Pathological pain is a disease state caused by damage to the nervous system (neuropathic) or by its abnormal function (dysfunctional).
Pain is one of the leading causes for primary care consultations. While acute pain serves as a warning signal of a disease or a threat to the body and is expected to resolve itself within the normal anticipated healing period, chronic pain persists despite the fact that the initial injury – if there was one at all – has healed. Unrelieved or undertreated acute pain, however, can lead to chronic pain.
Pharmacologic management is the cornerstone of both acute and chronic pain management. Particularly for acute pain treatment, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) are among the most often used analgesic agents. NSAIDs are a chemically diverse group of drugs that share more or less the same therapeutic anti-inflammatory, analgesic, antipyretic and – with the exception of the COX-2-selective agents – platelet-inhibitory properties.
H.G. Kress, A. Baltov, A. Basiński, F. Berghea, J. Castellsague, C. Codreanu, E. Copaciu, M.A. Giamberardino, M. Hakl, L. Hrazdira, M. Kokavec, J. Lejčko, L. Nachtnebl, R. Stančík, A. Švec, T. Tóth, M.V. Vlaskovska & J. Woroń (2016) Acute pain: a multifaceted challenge – the role of nimesulide, Current Medical Research and