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| |  Hyalgan Safe, Effective For Osteoarthritis Of The Knee NEW YORK, NY -- Dec. 3, 1998 -- A study, published in the current issue of The Journal of Rheumatology, demonstrated the efficacy and safety of Sanofi’s and OrthoLogic’s Hyalgan(R) (sodium hyaluronate) in the treatment of osteoarthritis of the knee. Hyalgan is administered by injection directly into the knee joint. The trial demonstrated that just one course of Hyalgan therapy given over a four-week interval (five intra-articular injections) was generally well tolerated, provided sustained relief of pain and improved patient function and was at least as effective as continuous treatment with naproxen for 26 weeks, with fewer gastrointestinal adverse events. The study was a 26-week randomised, double-blind, masked-observer, multicentre U.S. trial of 495 patients. Hyalgan has been approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of pain due to osteoarthritis of the knee in patients who have failed to respond adequately to conservative, nonpharmacologic therapy and to simple analgesics such as acetaminophen. The only adverse event that occurred with Hyalgan significantly more often than with placebo was temporary pain at the injection site. Hyalgan represents a novel therapeutic approach to the treatment of pain of osteoarthritis of the knee. It is a preparation of highly purified natural sodium hyaluronate, a substance found in the body and present in high concentrations in joint tissues and synovial fluid. The human body's own hyaluronate plays a number of key roles in normal joint function. In osteoarthritis, the quality and quantity of hyaluronate in the joint fluid and tissues may be deficient.
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