'Osmosin' in general practice: preliminary report of a double-blind study in the treatment of osteoarthritis.

ABSTRACT

'Osmosin' (105 mg sodium indomethacin trihydrate) has been studied in a double-blind general practice trial of patients with osteoarthritis of the hip at a dose of 1 tablet in the morning and matching placebo at night versus 1 tablet twice daily. To date, 223 patients have completed the study, 113 in the lower dose and 110 in the higher dose group. In the preliminary analysis, the overall trend at 4 weeks favoured the higher dose in effectiveness and this group appeared to respond more rapidly. The incidence of side-effects was similar in both groups, but there were fewer drop-outs due to side-effects in the group receiving 'Osmosin' once daily. The preliminary results indicate that the response to 'Osmosin' is time-dependent as well as dose-dependent and, therefore, rather than increasing the dose early, it is probably preferable to initiate therapy with 1 'Osmosin' daily and review at 1 month the need to increase the dose to 1 'Osmosin' twice daily.