# Celecoxib

Source: https://onco.cc/drugs/celecoxib/  
OnCo record `celecoxib` (Treatment). Data CC BY-NC 4.0, attribute "Data from OnCo (onco.cc)"; commercial use needs a licence.

## TL;DR

Celecoxib is a common anti-inflammatory painkiller. In oncology it is paired with low-dose oral methotrexate as a cheap 'metronomic' treatment for advanced head and neck cancer, a regimen from Tata Memorial in Mumbai that beat intravenous cisplatin in a randomised trial.

## Summary

Celecoxib is a selective COX-2 inhibitor that Pfizer (then Searle and Pharmacia) launched for arthritis pain; the FDA approved it in 1998. It had an accelerated approval in 1999 for reducing polyps in familial adenomatous polyposis, which Pfizer withdrew in 2011 after the confirmatory study was not completed.

Its oncology use today is as part of low-cost oral metronomic chemotherapy. At Tata Memorial Hospital, Patil and colleagues randomised patients with recurrent or metastatic head and neck cancer who could not afford or tolerate standard drugs to oral methotrexate 15 mg/m2 weekly with celecoxib 200 mg twice daily or to intravenous cisplatin every three weeks; the oral pair gave longer survival with fewer serious side effects, and adding one-twentieth of the usual dose of nivolumab improved survival further in a later trial. The regimen is named on the oral cavity, tongue, buccal mucosa and recurrent or metastatic head and neck cancer pages as the option where resources are limited.

## Fields

- Kind: Treatment
- Status: approved
- Last checked: 2026-09-17
- Also known as: SC-58635
- Tags: subtype-drugs-wave
- Brand: Celebrex
- Modality: Oral COX-2 inhibitor
- Mechanism: Selectively inhibits cyclo-oxygenase-2, the inducible prostaglandin enzyme that tumours and their stroma use to drive inflammation, angiogenesis and immune suppression, while sparing COX-1 in the stomach and platelets.
- Approvals: US 1998: Osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis pain (oncology use in metronomic regimens is off-label); US 1999: Reduction of adenomatous colorectal polyps in familial adenomatous polyposis (accelerated approval; indication withdrawn 2011)

## Sources

- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celecoxib
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celecoxib

## Connected records

- drugs: [Methotrexate](https://onco.cc/drugs/methotrexate/), [Nivolumab](https://onco.cc/drugs/nivolumab/)
- cancers: [Buccal mucosa and gingivobuccal cancer (oral cancer in India)](https://onco.cc/cancers/buccal-mucosa-cancer/), [HPV-negative head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (including HPV-negative oropharyngeal cancer)](https://onco.cc/cancers/hpv-negative-head-and-neck-cancer/), [Oral cavity cancer (mouth and tongue)](https://onco.cc/cancers/oral-cavity-cancer/), [Oral tongue and floor of mouth cancer](https://onco.cc/cancers/oral-tongue-cancer/), [Recurrent or metastatic head and neck squamous cell carcinoma](https://onco.cc/cancers/recurrent-metastatic-hnscc/)
- targets: [COX-2 (PTGS2)](https://onco.cc/targets/cox2/)
- companies: [Pfizer (incl. Seagen)](https://onco.cc/companies/pfizer/)

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