Answer
Apr 23, 2025 - 03:56 PM
Carprofen is no longer used in humans primarily because it was withdrawn from the human market for commercial reasons—not because regulators banned it as unusually dangerous. An official European Medicines Agency review states that it had been used in human medicine for more than ten years and was generally well tolerated, but was discontinued commercially.
However, carprofen was not free of safety concerns. Human studies reported:
- Typical NSAID effects such as nausea, abdominal discomfort and gastrointestinal pain.
- Minor, temporary liver-enzyme elevations in roughly 14–20% of patients in some trials.
- Rare but potentially serious photosensitivity reactions—abnormal skin reactions after exposure to sunlight.
These issues may have made carprofen less commercially attractive in an already crowded market of human NSAIDs, but the documented reason for its withdrawal was commercial rather than a formal safety recall. It continued to have a useful veterinary market, particularly for canine osteoarthritis and postoperative pain.
Veterinary carprofen products should never be taken by humans; their formulations, approved doses and quality controls are intended for animals, and there is no currently marketed human carprofen product.
