Zoledronic acid: Bone-building drug helpful in rheumatoid arthritis

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Bone-building drug helpful in rheumatoid arthritis

http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=healthNews & storyID=2006-05\

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SOURCE: Arthritis and Rheumatism, May 2006.

Zoledronic acid, used to inhibit the breakdown of bone and ward off the

bone-thinning disease osteoporosis, could also be helpful to people with

rheumatoid arthritis, researchers report.

According to the results of a small proof-of-concept study, zoledronic

acid -- also known as zoledronate or Aclasta -- increases the benefits seen

when treating early rheumatoid arthritis with the standard drug,

methotrexate.

As reported in the medical journal Arthritis and Rheumatism, Dr. Emery,

from Chapel Allerton Hospital in Leeds, UK, and colleagues used MRI scans to

assess joint erosions in 39 patients with early rheumatoid arthritis who

were assigned to receive placebo or zoledronic infusions in addition to

methotrexate therapy.

The average change in hand and wrist erosions after 26 weeks was 61 percent

lower in the zoledronate group than in the comparison group, the researchers

report.

Moreover, the average increase in the number of affected hand and wrist

bones was just 0.3 with zoledronate compared with 1.4 with placebo.

Zoledronate was well tolerated with a safety profile comparable to that of

placebo, the report indicates.

These findings " suggest that zoledronic acid may be a useful addition to

current therapy for rheumatoid arthritis, " Emery's team concludes.