Randomised, controlled clinical trials have shown that Merck & Co's selective cyclo-oxygenase-2 (COX-2) inhibitors etoricoxib and rofecoxib are at least as effective as conventional non-selective NSAIDs as analgesic and anti-inflammatory agents. Researchers from North and South America set out to evaluate the effect of both agents on QOL and pain among patients treated in clinical practice for chronic low back pain or osteoarthritis in Latin American countries, and presented their results at the Annual European Congress of Rheumatology [Berlin, Germany; June 2004].1,2They found that improvements in pain and QOL were significantly greater following treatment with the COX-2 inhibitors compared with conventional NSAIDs.