Efficacy and safety of Meriva, a curcumin-phosphatidylcholine complex, during extended administration in osteoarthritis patients

Belcaro G, Cesarone MR, Dugall M, Pellegrini L, Ledda A, Grossi MG, Togni S, Appendino G · Alternative Medicine Review

Treadmill walking distance is the endpoint the paper tests between the groups, and it separated: a 345% improvement from baseline against 89% in controls, a difference the authors put at 3.87-fold (p<0.05). The clinical scores are reported as each arm against its own baseline rather than against each other — Karnofsky 73.3 to 92.2 and WOMAC pain 16.6 to 7.3 and stiffness 7.4 to 3.2 on Meriva (p<0.05 each), with the control group's scores described as substantially unchanged — so the comparison on those is the reader's inference and not a test the paper reports. The inflammatory markers IL-1beta, IL-6, sCD40L, sVCAM-1 and ESR are presented the same way: all significantly reduced on Meriva, marginal and non-significant in controls. Reported use of NSAIDs and other painkillers fell 63% against 12%, and the cost and healthcare-use items carry between-group tests.

Population

100 patients with x-ray-confirmed grade 1 or 2 primary knee osteoarthritis, recruited from the database of an Italian cardiovascular screening project; 50 per group, with 5 and 6 leaving for non-medical reasons

Intervention

Meriva curcumin-phosphatidylcholine phytosome complex alongside best available treatment, for eight months, with painkillers allowed as needed in either group

Comparator

Best available treatment alone (non-randomised control group)

Limitations

An open, non-randomised product-evaluation registry with a best-available-treatment control and no blinding, run over eight months. Most of its headline clinical findings are within-group changes with the control arm's null stated alongside, which is not the same as the arms having been compared. One author manages and another consults for Indena, the company that makes Meriva, which the paper discloses. Patients came from a cardiovascular screening cohort rather than a joint clinic, and could take painkillers throughout.