Meanwhile, good old aspirin is not only an effective pain reliever but it has also been shown to reverse the effect of cartilage loss in osteoarthritis:

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S03785...

And that's not even taking into account its cardioprotective effects.

But hey, it can be hard on the stomach in SOME people so we developed alternatives with all sorts of nasty side effects, up to and including heart attacks and strokes (rofecoxib, valdecoxib, etc.) Hell, a decade ago, the FDA issued an advisory across the board that "Non-aspirin NSAIDS increase the risk of heart attacks and strokes":

https://www.fda.gov/drugs/drug-safety-and-availability/fda-d...

Some day we will look back on the attempted replacement of aspirin with these other drugs the same way we now look back on the replacement of butter with margarine (and the replacement of saturated fats with trans fats more broadly).