Pentosan is marketed in this country as Elmiron, an agent that will help protect bladder lining from interstitial cystitis. Now question is, could knee subcutaneous injections protect knee joint lining and be a “disease modifying osteoarthritis drug (DMOAD)”. Open trial on mild – moderate osteoarthritis knee is promising.
BMC Clin Pharmacol. 2010 Mar 28;10(1):7. [Epub ahead of print]
Sodium pentosan polysulfate resulted in cartilage improvement in knee osteoarthritis – An open clinical trial-
Kumagai K, Shirabe S, Miyata N, Murata M, Yamauchi A, Kataoka Y, Niwa M. free article here
- Average age 60, though ranged from 35-80
- Used mild – moderate osteoarthritis with pain scores above 4.5/10 after walking 50 meters.
- Gave 2 mg/kg subcutaneously about knee weekly for 6 weeks (plus earlier 25 and 50 mg test injections)
- That would be about 160 mg of Pentosan for the 80 kg OA sufferer – that would be about 2 Elmiron 100 mg capsules dissolved in 2 mls. water and passed through a millipore filter.
- Hydrarthroses(water on knee) were reduced quickly in all cases. Range of motion improved.
- Significant and persistent relief of joint pain (VAS).
- Disability scores (WOMAC) however, did not significantly change:
Comment – will need a double blind trial to know for sure especially since disability scores did not change. Shucks.