Anyone have any thoughts about this?
One-Year Open-Label Trial of Thalidomide in Ankylosing Spondylitis
According to the American College of Rheumatology Journal, Arthritis Care & Research (June 2002), researchers David Yu and colleagues from the University of California Los Angeles and the Chinese PLA General Hospital in China coordinated a study to find whether Thalidomide is potentially useful in treating patients with AS who have not responded to traditional treatment.
Thalidomide was the medication that caused an uproar in Europe in the 1960's when it was given to pregnant women as a sedative, and produced major deformities in their unborn children. As it turns out, Thalidomide is in a similar class of medication to infliximab (RemicadeÒ) and etanercept (EnbrelÒ), which are Tumor Necrosis Factor - alpha blockers.
Results: Thirty male patients with AS were recruited into the 12 month open study. Each patient took 200 mg of Thalidomide per day. While 80% showed at least a 20% improvement, nine patients became completely pain-free. From the results of this study, the researchers concluded that Thalidomide is a reasonably promising drug in treatment-resisting AS patients.
Frankie
