Prescription chondroitin sulphate is as efficacious as celecoxib and better than a placebo in knee osteoarthritis
Chondroitin sulphate proves to be equally effective as the anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) celecoxib
A new clinical study, conducted in full compliance with the most recent EMeA (European Medicines Agency) guidelines, shows that prescription chondroitin sulphate reduces pain and improves functional disability significantly better than a placebo in patients with knee osteoarthritis (OA).
Patients treated daily, for 6 months, tolerated a chondroitin sulphate (800mg) oral dosage form well. No serious treatment-related side-effects were reported during the entire period of the study.
IBSA, during the European Congress of Rheumatology (EULAR 2016), has presented the results of a new multicentre, randomised, double-blind and double-dummy Phase III clinical trial named CONCEPT (ChONdroitin vs CElecoxib vs Placebo Trial).
The study, designed in full compliance with the most recent EMeA guidelines, was conducted in 16 centres located in Belgium, Czech Republic, Italy, Poland and Switzerland, and involved 603 patients with knee OA, with the aim to confirm the efficacy and the safety of prescription highly purified chondroitin sulphate versus placebo and celecoxib, as gold reference standard, for a 6-month treatment period.
The results were presented by Prof. Reginster, MD, PhD, Professor of Epidemiology, Public Health and Health Economics (University of Liège, Belgium), during the IBSA satellite symposium.
Prof. Reginster said: 'The results show that the two primary endpoints, a decrease of the Lequesne algo-functional index and a decrease in pain on a VAS scale, were both statistically significant (p<0.05) compared with the placebo, confirming the SYSADOA (Sympomatic Slow Acting Drug in OsteoArthritis) effect of chondroitin sulphate. In addition, chondroitin sulphate proves to be equally effective as the active comparator celecoxib and to possess a favourable benefit/risk profile.'
'We are very pleased with the outcome of this trial,' commented Giuseppe Mautone, Head of IBSA R&D: 'This evidence represents a step forward in the definition of which drugs physicians should adopt for the long-term therapy of OA.'