![Promising Drug Against Hand Osteoarthritis Promising Drug Against Hand Osteoarthritis](https://images.medindia.net/health-images/1200_1000/x-ray1.jpg)
‘Drug talarozole (which increases retinoic acid) may prove as a promising new treatment for hand osteoarthritis.’
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The researchers started by investigating a common gene variant that had been linked to severe hand OA. Using patient samples collected at the time of routine hand surgery, as well as a number of experimental models, they were able to identify a key molecule that was especially low in ‘at risk’ individuals, called retinoic acid. ![twitter](https://images.medindia.net/icons/news/social/twitter.png)
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Talarozole: Drug for Hand Osteoarthritis
More than 40% of individuals will develop osteoarthritis (OA) during their lifetime. Hand (OA) is an extremely common form of OA and there are currently no disease-modifying treatments that effectively relieve symptoms or stop deformity and stiffness of the joints.Professor Vincent added: ‘This project was only possible because of the multi-disciplinary approach that we took; working with our hand surgical colleagues, geneticists, data scientists, and biologists.’
As talarozole has an acceptable safety profile in human subjects, a small proof of concept clinical study is underway to see whether this drug might represent a new disease-modifying treatment in patients.
Disease-Modifying Treatments for OA
Dr. Neha Issar-Brown, Director of Research and Health Intelligence at the charity Versus Arthritis, which funded the research, said: ‘Around 8.5 million people in the UK live with OA. Despite often being dismissed as just a few aches and pains, OA can have a profound and far-reaching impact on life, affecting people’s ability to work, care for a family, or live independently.Advertisement
‘This research is still at an early stage, but with these encouraging findings we are a big step closer to being able to develop a new class of disease-modifying drugs to treat osteoarthritis, prevent chronic pain, and enable people to live well with the condition,’ Dr. Issar-Brown concludes.
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