1. Knee Osteoarthritis Pain Management with an Innovative High and Low Molecular Weight Hyaluronic Acid Formulation (HA-HL): A Randomized Clinical Trial
- Author
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Zbigniew Zegota, Tomasz Blicharski, Jean-Yves Reginster, Győrfi Gyula, François Rannou, Alberto Migliore, and Rafal Plebanski
- Subjects
medicine.medical_specialty ,Visual analogue scale ,Hyaluronic acid ,Arthritis ,Osteoarthritis ,Placebo ,law.invention ,Rheumatology ,Quality of life ,Randomized controlled trial ,law ,Internal medicine ,medicine ,Immunology and Allergy ,Knee ,High and low molecular weight hyaluronic (HA-HL) ,Original Research ,business.industry ,medicine.disease ,Treatment ,Knee pain ,Intra-articular ,medicine.symptom ,business - Abstract
Introduction The objective of this study was to compare a single intra-articular injection of an innovative high and low molecular weight hyaluronic acid formulation (HA-HL) versus placebo in treating moderate-to-severe symptomatic knee osteoarthritis. Methods Subjects with primary osteoarthritis knee pain (Kellgren and Lawrence grade 2–3) were randomly assigned to intra-articular HA-HL or placebo in a prospective, double-blind, 24-week study. The primary outcome variable was change from screening to week 24 of a Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) pain score. Secondary outcomes included Lequesne’s algofunctional index, EuroQol 5-Dimension Questionnaire, 5-level version (EQ-5D-5L), Outcome Measures in Arthritis Clinical Trials-Osteoarthritis Research Society International (OMERACT-OARSI) response and rescue medication usage. Results In a total of 692 randomized patients, a rapid decrease was observed in mean VAS pain score from baseline to week 1 (26 ± 24 mm in the HA-HL group vs. 23 ± 23 mm in the placebo group); pain intensity continued to decrease during 24 weeks of follow-up, reaching a mean change from baseline of 35 ± 28 mm vs. 32 ± 27 mm at week 24. Mixed model analysis demonstrated statistically significant differences between groups in favor of the HA-HL group at weeks 1, 6, 12, and 24. HA-HL was also more effective than placebo in improving Lequesne’s algofunctional index, OMERACT-OARSI response, and health-related quality of life. The use of rescue medication (paracetamol 500 mg tablets; ≤ 6 per day) was lower in the HA-HL group. Both treatments were similarly well tolerated. Conclusions A single intra-articular injection of an innovative high and low molecular weight hyaluronic acid formulation (HA-HL) is effective in providing fast, sustained, and clinically relevant reductions in pain, functional limitation, and health-related quality of life that were apparent at 1 week after the intra-articular injection and maintained throughout the 24-week follow-up in subjects with painful knee osteoarthritis, with a good safety profile. Trial Registration ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT03200288. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s40744-021-00363-3.
- Published
- 2021