An Effectiveness Study of Hyaluronic acid【Hyabest® (J)】 in the Treatment of Osteoarthritis of the Knee on the Patients in the United States】

Patients of knee osteoarthritis are also increasing in other area than Japan.In the United States,for instance,number of the patients are estimated to reach 21 million, however so far there are no study reports available on the effectiveness of oral intake of hyaluronic acid for the American patients.We have conducted a placebo controlled double blind test on 37 patients,who were age 40 or above and lived in the United States,by orally feeding them with 200mg/day of high purity hyaluronic acid (Hyabest® (J)) for 8-weeks.Effectiveness in the reduction of pain in the knee joints was assessed by the changes in WOMAC (Western Ontario McMaster universities Osteoarthritis Index) scores.At the same time safety of the oral intake of Hyabest (J) was examined by blood tests conducted at pre-and-aft administration. Significant improvement in WOMAC scores was observed after 4-weeks of oral intake in the group of Hyabest (J).As the group of placebo also showed decline in WOMAC scores there was no statistically significant differences observed between the two groups.However,in the analysis of the scores of patients only suffering from severe pain the Hyabest (J) group has shown significant improvement over the placebo group.No adverse changes for safety were detected from the blood test readings.The above study result suggests that oral intake of high purity hyaluronic acid (Hyabest (J)) is effective in the treatment of American patients of knee osteoarthritis.