[Clinical and experimental study on sustained release tablet of Tripterygium wilfordii in treating rheumatoid arthritis].

Adopt to the prospective, multi-center, random, single-blind, equal rank-control methods, 226 patients of rheumatoid arthritis diagnosed according to the ARA criteria, were divided into 2 groups. One hundred and fourteen patients of test group were treated with sustained release tablets of Tripterygium wilfordii (TW-SR) orally, 2 tablets, twice a day for 4 weeks, 112 patients of control group received tablets of Tripterygium wilfordii (TW) orally, 2 tablets 3 times per day for 4 weeks. Results showed that the total effective rate of the two groups were 92.11% and 90.65%, respectively (P > 0.05). The adverse reaction rate of TW-SR group was 20.18%, which was lowered than that of TW group (70.54%, P < 0.01). Results of pre-clinical pharmacologic experimental study showed that the TW-SR has obvious anti-inflammatory, analgesia and immunosuppress'ive action as the TW has, while its toxicity was less than the latter significantly.