Conditions: Osteoarthritis of the Knee
Keywords: OA
Allocation: RANDOMIZED | Intervention model: PARALLEL
Enrollment: 92
Healthy volunteers: no

Brief summary:
The purpose of this study is to determine if the traditional Chinese herbal compound (Huo-Luo-Xiao-Ling Dan, or HLXL) is effective in treating OA of the knee in addition to participants current OA of the knee treatment(s) and also to determine the best dosage of HLXL that is safe and well tolerated.

Detailed description:
The specific aims of this project are:

1. To determine whether HLXL improves pain and/or function in patients with OA of the knee who continue to have symptoms despite receiving standard analgesic and/or anti-inflammatory treatment,
2. To identify an optimal dosage of HLXL, among two dosages, as determined by pain relief and/or functional improvement, in a dose-escalation, placebo-controlled double-blind randomized phase II clinical trial, in conjunction with indicia of safety and tolerability in patients with OA of the knee who are receiving standard analgesic and/or anti-inflammatory treatment,
3. To explore mechanisms of action of HLXL, correlating changes in biological markers of suppression of systemic inflammation with changes in clinical response

Arms:
arm 1: Active herb Huo-Luo-Xiao-Ling (HLXL) The subjects in the HLXL group received the medium dose of HLXL (10 capsules/day or 4,000mg/day) in the first 2 weeks to evaluate safety. If no adverse effects were observed, the dose was increased to 14 capsules per day (5,600 mg/day) for the subsequent 6 weeks. arm 2: Placebo Huo-Luo-Xiao-Ling (HLXL): Subjects in the placebo group received an equal number of placebo capsule.

Interventions: intervention 1: HLXL
Intervention descriptions: intervention 1: Two daily dosages will be investigated. Huo-Luo-Xiao-Ling (HLXL) dose (10 capsules/day or 4,000mg/day) in the first 2 weeks to evaluate safety. If no adverse effects were observed, the dose was increased to 14 capsules per day (5,600 mg/ day) for the subsequent 6 weeks.

Protocol document: