Bioiberica to present new evidence of the efficacy and safety of osteoarthritis treatments at the SER Congress

The joint SER-Bioiberica round table, “Updates in osteoarthritis: new evidence in efficacy and safety” will be held next Friday, May 25, at 12 am, at the Palexco venue in A Coruña. It is one of the scheduled events of the 44th National Congress of the Spanish Society of Rheumatology (Sociedad Española de Reumatología, SER).

At this round table, Dr. Mercedes Balcells, professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and expert in tissue engineering, will present a study evaluating the impact of mechanic stimulation of human joint cells which have been subjected to various forces and pathological conditions, thus mimicking the environment of an arthritic articulation. This model studied the effects of several different drugs, and the results demonstrated that a combination of chondroitin sulfate and glucosamine has a protective effect on human arthritic chondrocytes, increasing cell density and survival, as well as inducing collagen expression.

Dr. José Francisco Horga, from the Clinical Pharmacology Unit of the Alicante University Hospital, will present the data of an epidemiology study assessing cardiovascular risk of osteoarthritis treatments. The study involved a cohort of patients diagnosed with osteoarthritis (taken from the SIDIAP database, which contains primary care data from more than 5 million Catalan residents). More precisely, the study focused on the analysis of NSAIDs, chondroitin sulfate, glucosamine, opioids, paracetamol and metamizol. It was observed an increase in cardiovascular risk associated with the use of diclofenac, naproxen and opioid analgesics, whereas no association was found between the consumption of selective NSAIDs, topical use NSAIDs, glucosamine, chondroitin sulfate, paracetamol or metamizol.

Dr. Miguel Bernad, from the Rheumatology System at the La Paz University Hospital, will discuss the proper therapeutic approach to prevent osteoarthritis-linked co-morbidities, putting special emphasis on the toxicity/safety profiles of the most commonly used drugs, as well as on the evidence of their efficacy and safety. Of all the most recently published clinical trials in osteoarthritis, he will highlight in particular the CONCEPT trial. This is a randomized, double blind clinical trial, comparing chondroitin sulfate (CS) with celecoxib and placebo, over a six-month period, in 604 knee osteoarthritis patients. The study’s data shows that, after six months of treatment, it was observed a significant difference between the CS and placebo groups in regard to pain and function. No differences between CS and celecoxib were observed, for they presented a very similar profile at the symptom and rescue medication consumption levels. They also didn’t observe significant differences in the level of secondary effects on either group. They concluded that chondroitin sulfate is an effective treatment for knee osteoarthritis, significantly superior to placebo, has an equivalent effect to that of celecoxib, and has a good safety profile. 

In addition, Bioiberica will present at the congress four posters, all of them centered on updates in osteoarthritis treatment research:

- Effects of chondroitin sulfate and glucosamine on inflammatory cytokines in macrophages and synovial cells: this poster describes novel data on the use of a combination of chondroitin sulfate and glucosamine for the treatment of osteoarthritis, disclosing new, not yet described mechanisms of action in human osteoarthritic synovial cells. This proves that the combination of both drugs has a synergic anti-inflammatory effect, and helps understand the clinical efficacy observed in osteoarthritis patients.   

- Chondroitin sulfate and glucosamine as a new potential treatment option for musculoskeletal diseases: this poster explains the main mechanisms of action of this combination of drugs.

- Chondroitin sulfate-loaded hydrogels for cartilage regeneration: this poster proves that the use of a hydrogel based on this active ingredient and hyaluronic acid gives better adherence and cell proliferation.

- Clinical validation of two biomarker panels to predict therapeutic response in knee osteoarthritis patients: this poster presents updates on biomarker monitoring to predict the response to celecoxib and to a combination of chondroitin sulfate and glucosamine.

To find out more about these scientific updates and also about Bioiberica’s treatments for osteoarthritis, we invite all visitors to attend booth #8 in the exhibitors’ area.