Clinical Study on sustained release tablet of tripterygium Wilfordii in treating rheumatoid arthritis

Abstract

Adopting prospective, multi-center, random, single-blind and equal rank-control methods, 226 patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) were divided into two groups. The 114 patients of the test group were treated with oral sustained release tablets of Tripterygium Wilfordii (TW-SR), 2 tablets twice a day for 4 weeks, 112 patients of the control group received tablets of Tripterygium Wilfordii (TW) orally 2 tablets 3 times per day for 4 weeks. Testing results showed the total effective rates of the two groups were 92.11 % and 90.65 %, respectively (P>0.05). The adverse reaction rate of TW-SR was 20.18%, which was lower than that of TW group of 70.54% (P<0. 01). Results of pre-clinical pharmacologic experimental study demonstrated that TW-SR has obvious anti-inflammatory, analgesic and immunosuppressive actions the same as TW, while the toxicity of TW-SR was less than that of TW significantly.