Orgotein in osteoarthritis of the knee joint.

A double-blind study showed that four weekly intra-articular injections of 4 mg orgotein were superior to four weekly injections of saline in reducing pain, the duration of morning stiffness and effusions in patients with osteoarthritis. Forty patients with active osteoarthritis of the knee joint were studied. Patients without demonstrable effusion in the joint to be injected were excluded from the study. They were assigned at random to two treatment groups. The treatments appeared identical and the trial was therefore double-blind. The groups were well matched for age, sex, duration of disease and most other measurements made at the start of the study. Orgotein was safe and well tolerated. It caused only slightly more adverse reactions than placebo. Patients receiving orgotein showed no greater radiological deterioration than those receiving placebo.