Celecoxib is a selective COX-2 inhibitor with IC50 of 40 nM.

Celecoxib is an anti-inflammatory compound from the diaryl heterocycle class that selectively inhibits cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) (IC50s = 22.9 and 0.05 μM for COX-1 and COX-2, respectively).While it was initially hailed as a major therapeutic advance in treating inflammation while circumventing the gastrointestinal toxicity associated with traditional non-sterodial anti-inflammatory drugs, the use of celecoxib has been tempered due to its ability to induce adverse cardiovascular events.Celecoxib also displays chemopreventive activity in multiple tumor types via proapoptotic effects that are independent of its capacity to block COX-2.