Drug Database
IB

ibuprofen (ibuprofen, Diffutab)

✓ Approved

Therabel · PTGS1 · Small Molecule

What is ibuprofen?

ibuprofen is a small molecule developed by Therabel. It is approved for therapeutic indications via oral (po).

Drug Profile

Brand Namesibuprofen, Diffutab
CompanyTherabel
Drug ClassSmall Molecule
Molecular TargetPTGS1, PTGS2
RouteOral (PO)
StatusApproved
Sources: ClinicalTrials.gov, Therabel

Mechanism of Action

Molecular Targets

ibuprofen acts on 2 molecular targets:

PTGS1prostaglandin-endoperoxide synthase 1 (COX3, PCOX1)
PTGS2prostaglandin-endoperoxide synthase 2 (GRIPGHS, hCox-2)
Want deeper analysis?Noah AI can explain complex mechanisms and compare to similar drugs.

Therapeutic Indications

ibuprofen is developed for 1 unique indication across 1 therapeutic area.

Therapeutic AreaConditionPhase
Gastrointestinal disordersAbdominal pain✓ Approved

Related Research Articles

PubMedKidney medicine2026-08-30

NSAID-Induced Acute Interstitial Nephritis Concurrent With IgA Vasculitis: A Case-Based Systematic Review.

Caputo Carmela C, Sessa Concetto C, Serio Vittorio V, Baciga Federica F et al.

Overlap between acute interstitial nephritis (AIN) and glomerulonephritis is uncommon and diagnostically challenging. We present the first pediatric case of clinically diagnosed immunoglobulin A vasculitis nephritis (IgAV-N) concurrent with nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID)-induced AIN. A 14-year-old boy was hospitalized for recurrent gastroenteritis, purpura, and arthralgia treated with ibuprofen. After 5 days, he developed stage 3 acute kidney injury, subnephrotic proteinuria, hypertension, and oligoanuria. Kidney biopsy showed mild to moderate interstitial inflammation with tubulitis; immunofluorescence was negative for glomerular IgA, with nonspecific tubular C3 staining. After NSAID discontinuation, 10 dialysis sessions, and corticosteroids, kidney function recovered completely within 3 months. To support the clinical lesson highlighted by our case, we conducted a systematic review of biopsy-confirmed AIN-glomerulonephritis overlap. PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, and Google Scholar were searched for biopsy-confirmed AIN with concurrent glomerulonephritis. Clinical features, etiologies, treatments, and outcomes were extracted. Systematic review identified 8 studies (12 patients). Drug-related AIN predominated (9 of 12), followed by infection (2 of 12) and autoimmune disease (1 of 12). Nephrotic-range proteinuria was described in 6, hematuria in 8, and hypersensitivity findings in 7 of the 12 patients. Complete recovery occurred in 7 and partial recovery in 3 patients, and dialysis was required in 2 of the 12 patients. NSAID-induced AIN concurrent with IgA vasculitis nephritis should be suspected in atypical acute kidney injury.

PMID 42668581
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PubMedKidney international reports2026-08-28

Comparing Ibuprofen and Loop Diuretics for Protein-Bound Uremic Toxins Clearance During Hemodialysis.

Escudero-Saiz Víctor Joaquín VJ, Cuadrado-Payán Elena E, Rodríguez-García María M, Casals Gregori G et al.

Protein-bound uremic toxins (PBUTs), such as indoxyl sulphate (IS) and p-cresyl sulphate (pCS) are associated with cardiovascular mortality in patients undergoing hemodialysis. Because of their high albumin affinity, conventional dialysis techniques achieve poor clearance. This study aims to evaluate the efficacy of different competitive binding displacement strategies using ibuprofen and loop diuretics during online hemodiafiltration (OL-HDF). A longitudinal, cross-over study in 12 patients undergoing chronic hemodialysis was performed. Each patient underwent 6 different dialysis modalities based on postdilutional HDF. The experimental arms included the following: (i) Standard postdilutional HDF (control), (ii) High-flux hemodialysis (HF-HD) (iii) Oral furosemide 1h predialysis, (iv) Oral torasemide 1h predialysis, (v) 1h arterial infusion of furosemide, and (vi) 1h arterial infusion of ibuprofen. Reduction ratios (RR) for IS and pCS were calculated for each session. Statistical analysis was performed using 1-way repeated measures analysis of variance with Bonferroni post hoc correction. Arterial administration of ibuprofen was the only strategy that significantly enhanced PBUT removal, achieving mean RR of 65% for IS and 60% for pCS (P < 0.05 vs. baseline OL-HDF). In contrast, neither oral nor arterial administration of loop diuretics showed a statistically significant increase in the RR of IS or pCS when compared with OL-HDF. No acute adverse events were reported during the pharmacological interventions. Prefilter arterial infusion of ibuprofen is the most effective strategy for increasing the intradialytic clearance of IS and pCS during OL-HDF. The lack of efficacy observed with furosemide suggests a ceiling effect in high-volume HDF, where only high-affinity competitors can further displace PBUTs from albumin-binding sites. Pharmacological displacement represents a promising adjunct to convective therapies to optimize protein-bound uremic toxin removal.

PMID 42662542
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PubMedJournal of conservative dentistry and endodontics2026-08-28

Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug to improve inferior alveolar nerve block success in irreversible pulpitis: A bibliometric analysis.

Só Gabriel Barcelos GB, Michel Carolina Horn Troian CHT, Bier Carlos Alexandre Souza CAS, Só Marcus Vinicius Reis MVR

This bibliometric analysis aimed to evaluate scientific output and research trends on nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) premedication for improving inferior alveolar nerve block (IANB) success. A comprehensive search was performed in the Web of Science Core Collection in January 2026 without time restrictions. Studies assessing oral NSAIDs as premedication to enhance IANB efficacy in irreversible pulpitis were included. Extracted data included publication year, citation count, journal, impact factor (IF), study design, countries, authors, and keywords. Spearman's rank correlation was used to analyze associations among citations, publication year, and journal IF. Forty-six articles were included, totaling 957 citations, of which 39.2% were self-citations. Clinical trials predominated (n = 31), followed by reviews (n = 14). The Journal of Endodontics was the most productive journal. Asia was the leading continent, with India and Iran as the main contributors. Ibuprofen was the most frequently investigated NSAID. Citation count showed a moderate positive correlation with journal IF (ρ =0.606) and a strong negative correlation with publication year (ρ = -0.854). NSAIDs premedication to improve IANB efficacy is clinically relevant and largely concentrated in high-impact endodontic journals. Despite growing interest, methodological heterogeneity persists, highlighting the need for standardized protocols and further high-quality clinical studies. NSAIDs premedication to improve IANB efficacy is clinically relevant and largely concentrated in high-impact endodontic journals. Despite growing interest, methodological heterogeneity persists, highlighting the need for standardized protocols and further high-quality clinical studies.

PMID 42662688
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PubMedMolecular informatics2026-08-28

MSI: A Mahalanobis-Based Molecular Similarity Index for High-Dimensional Embeddings.

Bernal-Jaquez Roberto R, Ridout-Buhl Elliot E, Montoya Emiliano E, Alday-Toledo León L et al.

Quantifying molecular similarity is crucial for drug discovery and for exploring chemical space. A similarity assessment always combines two independent ingredients: a molecular representation and a similarity coefficient. The most common pairing, binary substructure fingerprints scored with the Tanimoto coefficient, depends strongly on fingerprint bit density and, because it compares unweighted sets of substructure identifiers, is blind to the multiplicity of repeated fragments and frequently returns ranking ties that obscure meaningful chemical relationships. Here, we introduce the Mahalanobis Similarity Index (MSI), which pairs continuous Mol2Vec embeddings with a covariance-aware Mahalanobis distance (dM) and an associated Mahalanobis angle (θM) to give a statistically grounded assessment that is invariant under invertible linear reparametrization of the descriptor space. We evaluated MSI on five chemically distinct reference compounds: aspirin, a salicylate nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID); aniline, an industrial aromatic amine; curcumin, a polyphenolic natural product; ibuprofen, a propionic-acid NSAID; and digitoxin, a cardiac glycoside. Relative to the Tanimoto coefficient computed on ECFP4 fingerprints, MSI improves the analysis in three specific respects: it promotes chemically reasonable analogs that the fingerprint deprioritises; it resolves ranking ties, recovering between 7 and 10 distinct scores among the 10 nearest neighbors where Tanimoto recovers only 3-7; and its geometry varies systematically with HOMO-LUMO energy gaps in the QM9 dataset, indicating that the embedding tracks electronic structure even though it was trained on structural context alone. Polar plots and three-dimensional similarity maps reveal anisotropy within the embedding space and define practical applicability domains for high-similarity retrieval. MSI retains discriminatory power in the regime where the Tanimoto coefficient saturates near zero, and sparse peripheral regions suggest scaffold-hopping opportunities. The dual radial-angular description supports hypothesis-driven reasoning about how structural modifications shift electronic properties. MSI is computationally efficient, chemically interpretable, and offers a practical way to navigate high-dimensional chemical space. Beyond drug discovery, it is applicable to materials science, toxicology, and chemical biology, wherever continuous molecular embeddings are used for property-driven screening.

PMID 42661439
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PubMedDepression and anxiety2026-08-28

Depression, Nutritional Status, and Substance P/NK-1R Biomarkers in Dysmenorrhea: A Randomized Crossover Trial.

Mehboob Riffat R, Shahid Imran I, John Akash A, Ahmad Shahzad S et al.

SP and NK-1R are neuropeptide related biomarkers involved in nociceptive pathways. Dysmenorrhea is frequently associated with psychological distress and biochemical alterations; however, their interrelationship across treatment phases remains insufficiently understood. To explore changes in psychological status (depression, anxiety, and stress), nutritional status, and SP/NK-1R-related biomarker levels across NSAID and dexamethasone plus aprepitant combination therapy phases in females with dysmenorrhea. This was a randomized, sequential, within-subject repeated-measures crossover exploratory controlled trial with a parallel healthy control group. A total of 40 females were enrolled, including 30 with primary dysmenorrhea and 10 healthy controls. Dysmenorrhea participants were assessed over three menstrual cycles across three phases: baseline (no treatment), NSAID phase (ibuprofen 400 mg three times daily for 3 days), and combination therapy phase (dexamethasone plus aprepitant for 2 days). Psychological status was assessed using DASS-21, and nutritional status using the mini nutritional assessment (MNA). Serum SP and NK-1R levels were measured using ELISA in a subset of participants due to sample limitations. Data were analyzed using IBM SPSS Statistics (version 22), with repeated-measures ANOVA and independent t-tests; p  < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Participants with dysmenorrhea were enrolled and assessed for ELISA based SP levels in blood. SP levels showed significant variation across treatment phases (p = 0.021), with the lowest values observed during the dexamethasone plus aprepitant phase compared to baseline and NSAID phases. NK-1R levels did not show significant phase-wise changes. Psychological subgroup analyses indicated greater SP variability in participants with moderate depression, stress, and anxiety, although several subgroups were small. Nutritional status showed partial associations with SP changes, with significant differences in malnourished and normal groups. Overall, biomarker changes were more pronounced than NK-1R alterations across phases. This study demonstrates phase-dependent changes in SP levels alongside psychological and nutritional variations in women with dysmenorrhea. However, absence of clinical pain outcomes and small subgroup sizes limit causal interpretation, and findings should be considered preliminary and biomarker-focused.

PMID 42662276
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PubMedFrontiers in pharmacology2026-08-27

Safety assessment for ibuprofen using disproportionality analysis: a decade of data from the Romanian national pharmacovigilance system.

Buciuman Cristina Anamaria CA, Butuca Anca A, Frum Adina A, Gligor Felicia Gabriela FG et al.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the adverse reactions associated with ibuprofen, one of the most widely used analgesic-antipyretic agents, in comparison with other nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs). In Romania, most pharmaceutical forms of ibuprofen are available over the counter, except for parenteral formulations and high-dose oral forms (800 mg), which require a prescription. Descriptive and disproportionality methods were conducted on reports associated with ibuprofen and six other NSAIDs, submitted to the National Agency for Medicines and Medical Devices of Romania between 2015 and 2024 by healthcare professionals and patients. The type and the frequency of adverse reactions, and their classification according to the System Organ Classification were analyzed. For the disproportionality analysis, the reporting odds ratio and 95% confidence interval were used to compare the disproportional reporting ADRs related to ibuprofen with that of other six NSAIDs. From the total number of reports (n = 128), 44 were related to ibuprofen, with an annual mean of 4.4 ± 2.91, indicating greater reporting variability. Within 15 reports, several serious events were recorded 10 required hospitalization or prolongation of hospitalization, 5 were life-threatening, 3 were associated with other severe medical conditions, and one resulted in the patients' death. The safety profile of ibuprofen shows a predominance of gastrointestinal adverse reactions (n = 31) over immunological (n = 18), cutaneous (n = 18), or neurological reactions (n = 7). However, the disproportionality analysis, limited by the relatively small number of reports, suggests a higher disproportional reporting of gastrointestinal disorders for ibuprofen than for etoricoxib (ROR 4.74; 95% CI 1.72-13.03). In contrast, a lower disproportional reporting skin and soft tissue ADRs related to ibuprofen, compared with diclofenac (ROR 0.32; 95% CI 0.11-0.95) and celecoxib (ROR 0.17; 95% CI 0.05-0.54), was observed. The reported adverse reactions were consistent with the established safety profile of ibuprofen and are largely described in the Summary of Product Characteristics, with no new safety signals identified. However, this study adds national real-world pharmacovigilance evidence by demonstrating a higher disproportional reporting of gastrointestinal disorders compared with etoricoxib and by highlighting children and adolescents as the most frequently represented reporting population. These findings contribute to a better understanding of ibuprofen safety patterns in routine clinical practice in Romania. The results should be interpreted in the context of inherent limitations, such as underreporting of adverse reactions and the difficulty in establishing causality, particularly for patient-reported cases, which may introduce a higher degree of subjectivity.

PMID 42656492
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