Dundee University is spearheading a £26 million trial investigating the safety and efficacy of medication for arthritis, which currently affects about nine million predominantly elderly people in the UK.

Under the Standard care versus Celecoxib Outcome Trial (SCOT), academics from the university are to compare traditional anti-inflammatory drugs such as ibuprofen with the newly-developed counterpart celecoxib.

Four hundred separate GP practices and a total of some 16,000 patients are to participate in the three-year trial, which also draw from the scientific expertise of the nearby Universities of Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen.

Commenting of the importance of the study, Tom MacDonald, professor of clinical pharmacology at the University of Dundee, said that it would aim to clear up the long-standing debate over which treatments are most effective and have the fewest side effects.

"This trial is of international significance because it will compare the various NSAID (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs) treatments prescribed for arthritis sufferers in usual care," Mr MacDonald explained. "[It] will help us draw some solid conclusions to benefit arthritis sufferers."

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