French drugmaker Servier has presented late-stage data on Protelos, which shows that the drug reduced structural progression of osteoarthritis in knee joints by one-third. The Phase III results, unveiled at the European Congress on Osteoporosis and Osteoarthritis in Bordeaux, come from the first study ever to have demonstrated a disease-modifying effect in OA. Furthermore, investigators showed that Protelos (strontium ranelate), currently licensed for osteoporosis, delivered beneficial effects on pain, function, and mobility. Cyrus Cooper, of the universities of Southampton and Oxford and the lead investigator on the trial, said that “after years of labouring to manage patients with blunt tools we finally have something that allows us to alter the natural history of the disease”. Until now, the only treatment for OA, a condition estimated to affect one in six people, has been life-style changes and symptomatic relief with analgesics.
