Trial comparing D-penicillamine and gold in rheumatoid arthritis. Preliminary report.

The Multicentre Trial Group (1973) showed that penicillamine was superior to placebo in a doubleblind trial against placebo. In this trial penicillamine was compared with gold. There are three reasons why a double-blind trial of penicillamine and gold was not attempted; first, gold is given by injection and penicillamine orally;. secondly, both drugs have distinctive side effects which might 'unblind' the observer; and thirdly, because some side effects are potentially dangerous, it is essential that the physician knows which drug his patient is receiving. For these reasons, the patients were treated by their usual physicians who supervised dosage and documented side effects. Before the trial and at 3-monthly intervals after the start of treatment, the patients were seen by a 'blind' observer from another hospital.