The two most common painkillers in the world. One reduces inflammation, the other does not — and they carry entirely different risks, to the stomach and to the liver respectively.
Uses temporarily relieves minor aches and pains due to: headache toothache backache menstrual cramps the common cold muscular aches minor pain of arthritis temporarily reduces fever
An oral or rectal medication used to relieve mild-to-moderate pain and reduce fever.
Which medicine is right for a given person depends on their diagnosis, other conditions, other medicines, kidney and liver function, pregnancy, and cost or reimbursement — none of which this page knows. Two drugs in the same class are not automatically interchangeable. Never start, stop or switch a prescription medicine on the basis of a web page; that decision belongs to you and your clinician or pharmacist.
Class and summary text is written by the Priya Life Science editorial team. Label, mechanism, route, manufacturer and approval data come from the U.S. FDA via the openFDA API; shortage status from the FDA Drug Shortage Database. Approvals, indications and brand names differ between the US, EU/Ireland (EMA/HPRA) and other regions — a drug approved in one may not be approved, or may carry a different name, in another.