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This brief is shared privately with select partners. If you don't have a passcode, contact te@ketroskin.com.
This brief is shared privately with select partners. If you don't have a passcode, contact te@ketroskin.com.
The aversion is real, durable, and predates any specific program. Patients weigh GI risk, opioid stigma, and polypharmacy fatigue before they reach for an oral medication — and most would rather not reach for one at all.
Topical therapy is the answer people already want. The question is whether it’s strong enough to do the work.
If pain stays local,
why should the medication
go everywhere?
Topical NSAIDs deliver therapeutic concentration at the site of pain — without putting the rest of the body on the hook.
The medication you reach for when you don’t want a pill. Applied where it hurts, absorbed into the tissue, with a small fraction of the systemic burden.
Ketorolac is absorbed transdermally at the application site, reaching synovial fluid and muscle at therapeutic concentrations.
Standard NSAID mechanism — localized. The anti-inflammatory effect is concentrated at the painful tissue, not distributed through the body.
Topical NSAIDs deliver less than 15% of the plasma exposure of oral dosing — and as low as 0.4–2.2% for diclofenac in published PK studies. The liver and GI tract are largely bypassed.
Every other option either asks the patient to swallow something, carries opioid stigma, or isn’t strong enough for moderate pain. Topical ketorolac is the only one that doesn’t.
| Option | Oral Burden | GI / Systemic Risk | Opioid Stigma | Strength for Real Pain |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Acetaminophen | Pill | Hepatic load | None | Limited for inflammatory pain |
| Oral NSAIDs | Pill | High GI / CV / renal | None | Effective |
| Opioids | Pill | CNS / dependency | High | Effective — at a cost |
| OTC topicals (Voltaren, etc.) | None | Low | None | Under-powered for moderate pain |
| Heat / ice / TENS | None | None | None | Symptomatic comfort only |
| Topical Ketorolac (Ketro) | None | Minimal — localized | None | Prescription-strength |
A prescription-strength topical ketorolac, compounded by a US pharmacy, dispensed through a closed-loop async Rx pathway. Skincare-formulated — fast-absorbing, non-greasy, fragrance-controlled. Built for daily use.
The same NSAID used in hospitals, in a gel you apply at home.
AAOS issued a Strong recommendation for topical NSAIDs in knee osteoarthritis (2021 OAK3 clinical practice guideline). ACP and AAFP recommend topical NSAIDs as first-line therapy for acute non–low back musculoskeletal injuries — a strong recommendation, with an explicit recommendation against opioids except in severe cases (2020).
Professional athletes don’t take an oral NSAID mid-season. They can’t carry the GI risk, the kidney load, or the cardiovascular footprint while playing 162 games.
They needed something prescription-strength they could apply directly. Ketro is that formulation, brought to the people outside the clubhouse.
The formulation pros use
to keep moving.
Now built for the people
you serve.
Same active ingredient. Same conviction. Available through a structured Rx pathway designed to integrate cleanly into an existing care program.
Members access Ketro through a co-branded landing page at preferential pricing. No clinical integration. Lowest lift — designed for the evaluation phase.
Topical NSAIDs included in member education and care-team recommendations. Co-branded clinical content. Standard Rx pathway.
Formal inclusion in the program — onboarding kits, flare-event triggers, bidirectional outcome data, joint clinical case studies.
Recommended starting point: a structured 90-day clinical pilot — 100 members, product at COGS, joint outcome analysis. Detail in the accompanying Pilot Proposal.
Not a deal. Not procurement. A conversation between clinicians and a founder about whether the thesis of this brief fits your program.
te@ketroskin.com
Clinical oversight and content review