“Old” Drug Works Wonders for Painful Hand Arthritis

The older you get, the greater your chances of suffering from painful arthritis in your hands.

But despite this condition being so common, there are limited drug treatments to rein in the pain—and most of the time, they’re ineffective.

But instead of going through the time and expense of developing a new drug for this condition, scientists say they’ve uncovered an existing solution sitting right under our noses all along.

In medicine, newer is NOT always better.

That’s one of the reasons why there’s a growing movement to repurpose existing drugs to be used for conditions other than the ones they’re approved to treat.

In fact, many doctors are already prescribing the drug methotrexate to treat hand arthritis.

This drug treats rheumatoid arthritis, a condition with (supposedly) different underlying causes from osteoarthritis.

But the drug’s low price tag, long history of safety, and promising anecdotal results make it appealing for osteoarthritis—especially since few alternatives actually work.

To put this drug to the test in patients with osteoarthritis of the hand, researchers gave them a standard dose of methotrexate (20 mg once a week) or a placebo.

X-rays confirmed the arthritis diagnosis and MRIs confirmed the presence of inflammation.

The methotrexate group experienced improvements at months one, three, and six compared to the placebo group.

Overall, the drug group had twice the improvement in pain as the placebo group at the end of six months.

You don’t usually see me touting drugs, but sometimes they are necessary—and some would even call them a godsend.

If you find yourself in this situation, older drugs with a long track record of safety are preferable.

If you’re experiencing painful hand arthritis—and no treatment options have worked for you—talk to your doctor about the possibility of methotrexate.

P.S. Forward-thinking researchers have identified existing drugs that have potent effects against killer cancer. I’ll share four of them in the January issue of my newsletter. Not a subscriber? CLICK HERE to learn how to become one.

SOURCE:

“Methotrexate to treat hand osteoarthritis with synovitis (METHODS): an Australian, multisite, parallel-group, double-blind, randomised, placebo-controlled trial,” The Lancet, Volume 402, ISSUE 10414, P1764-1772, November 11, 2023, doi. org/ 10.1016 /S0140-6736(23)01572-6