Nabumetone: a single-center three-week comparison with placebo in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis

Abstract

Forty-six patients with definite or classical rheumatoid arthritis were entered into a three-week, double-blind, randomized, parallel study of nabumetone, 1,000 mg at bedtime, compared with placebo. Fifteen nabumetone-treated and 12 placebo-treated patients were evaluated for efficacy variables including physician's opinion of rheumatoid arthritis activity, patient's opinion of rheumatoid arthritis activity, articular index, morning stiffness, 50-foot walking time, grip strength, and acetaminophen consumption. Between-group analysis of improvement over baseline was significantly (p less than 0.05) greater for nabumetone-treated patients for six of the seven variables. Nabumetone was significantly favored over placebo in three global evaluations and significantly more placebo-treated (75 percent) than nabumetone-treated (20 percent) patients withdrew from the study due to an unsatisfactory therapeutic response. Of the 38 patients receiving the study medication, 22 percent of nabumetone-treated and 5 percent of placebo-treated patients reported adverse experiences either related to treatment or for which the relationship to treatment was unknown. No patients were withdrawn from the study as a result of these experiences and no long-term sequelae or clinically significant laboratory abnormalities were reported.