Arguments have been made for several years defending and refuting the effectiveness of chondroitin sulfate as treatment for osteoarthritis (OA). A recent review carried out by The Chochrane Collaboration, however, concludes that the drug does provide significant pain relief for OA.
A media release from Barcelona, Spain-headquartered biotech company Bioiberica, announced a review published by the Cochrane Library confirms that chondroitin sulfate is safe and efficacious. Authors of the study reportedly searched seven databases and reviewed 43 clinical trails that culled information from 4,962 patients whose treatment included chondroitin sulfate.
Dr Josep Vergés, clinical pharmacologist and medical and scientific director of Bioiberica, characterizes the results as “highly relevant, and says he hopes the data will end any controversy about the efficacy and safety of chondroitin sulfate.
“At Bioiberica we have been working for more than 10 years on this product, whose efficacy has been scientifically and clinically proved,” Vergés says.
Vergés adds that the review includes controlled clinical trials that used pharmaceutical-grade chondroitin sulfate, in addition to studies in which compounds of untested quality were used. “This is why the authors included a comment on the elevated heterogeneity of the studies. This is the reality of the current market, and even in this context their global assessment of the product is positive,” Vergés adds.
The study authors stated that the study subjects treated with chondroitin sulfate achieved statistically significantly and clinically meaningful better pain and functional capacity scores.
[Source: Bioiberica]
