Recent developments in chimeric NSAIDs as safer anti-inflammatory agents.

NSAIDs are among the most widely prescribed medications across the world, but the gastrointestinal (GI) toxicity still remains the biggest problem and the challenge for current NSAIDs-based therapeutics. The development of selective COX-2 inhibitors was driven by the assumption that selective inhibition of COX-2 would reduce the GI side effects. However, the initial enthusiasm for selective COX-2 inhibitors has faded away due to the emergence of serious side effects associated with the long-term use of these NSAIDs. In the recent years, a number of novel approaches to develop gastrosparing NSAIDs have been explored with the promising results. This review deals with such approaches and strategies that have been employed in the last two decades and are being used currently in the design and development of safer NSAIDs.