A Randomized, Double Blind, Placebo Controlled, Parallel-Group Study to Evaluate the Safety and Efficacy of Curene versus Placebo in Reducing Symptoms of Knee OA

Panda SK, Nirvanashetty S, Parachur VA, Mohanty N, Swain T · BioMed Research International

Total WOMAC, all three of its subscales and VAS separated from placebo at every visit from day 7 to day 60. By day 60 total WOMAC had fallen 19.44 points from a baseline of 37.88 on Curene, against 6.60 from 37.36 on placebo, and VAS 25.11 mm against 7.97 mm. Rescue paracetamol went to 3 of 25 subjects on Curene and 7 of 25 on placebo, 19 tablets against 75. Adverse events were mild in both arms and did not differ.

Population

Adults aged 40-75 with ACR-criteria knee osteoarthritis for over 3 months, India

Intervention

Curene (Aquasome-formulated curcuminoids) 500 mg once daily

Comparator

Placebo

Limitations

n=50, single centre, 60 days, and funded by Olene Life Sciences, which manufactures Curene and held final approval of the manuscript. The paper marks significance with symbols and reports no p-values, confidence intervals or effect sizes for any endpoint, and the percentage reductions it headlines are within-group changes. No structural or biomarker endpoint, and the curcuminoid content of the 500 mg capsule is never stated.