An open clinical evaluation was carried out in 736 African out-patients suffering from rheumatic and inflammatory disorders to assess the efficacy and tolerability of tenoxicam in relieving the signs and symptoms of their condition. On entry, all previous treatment was discontinued and patients received a simple daily dose of 20 mg tenoxicam orally for 15 days in the case of those with rheumatoid arthritis or tendinitis, or for 30 days in those with osteoarthritis. Paracetamol was allowed as a rescue analgesic. Subjective verbal scale assessments were used to determine levels of pain at rest, on movement and at night, sleep disturbance and functional incapacity, on entry and during treatment. At the end of the study period, both physicians and patients gave an overall opinion of the clinical response to tenoxicam, and patients were asked how their current compared with their previous treatment. The results showed that approximately 90% of patients had an excellent or good response to tenoxicam with marked improvement in all the signs and symptoms evaluated. Moreover, tenoxicam proved to be well tolerated, only a small number of patients reporting adverse events, mainly gastro-intestinal.