THE ESSENTIAL
- 10 million French people are affected by osteoarthritis, a joint disease that leads to the destruction of cartilage.
- The joints most often affected by osteoarthritis are those of the hands (in 35 to 45% of cases).
While more than 40% of individuals worldwide will develop osteoarthritis in their lifetime, there is currently no disease-modifying treatment for this debilitating disease. This situation might however change thanks to a new drug.
Hand osteoarthritis: Talarozole might reduce cartilage inflammation
Indeed, Talarozole would have the ability to relieve people who suffer from osteoarthritis of the hand. This drug is originally known to increase the production of retinoic acid. Gold, researchers from the University of Oxford in the UK rightly found that levels of retinoic acid were particularly low in people at risk of severe osteoarthritis of the hand.
Experiments carried out on mice had also shown that boosting the synthesis of retinoic acid had suppressed the inflammation of the articular cartilage, which would make Talarozole a relevant treatment. A clinical trial in humans is currently underway to see if this drug can really improve symptoms.
Osteoarthritis: research aims to improve the quality of life of patients
“There is an urgent need for disease-modifying treatments designed to prevent or reverse the painful symptoms of osteoarthritis. This study reveals a new understanding of the causes of hand osteoarthritis, which might lead to the identification of new biological targets for intervention in this pathology.“said Dr Neha Issar-Brown, director of Research and Health Intelligence at the charity Versus Arthritis, which funded the study.
“This research is still in its early stages, but with these encouraging findings, we are one step closer to the ability to develop a new class of disease-modifying drugs to treat osteoarthritis, prevent chronic pain, and enable people to live well with this pathology”, she concluded in a press release.
