Preliminary Trial of the Efficacy of Bucillamine in Korean Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis

Abstract

Bucillamine is a new disease-modifying antirheumatic drug (DMARD) that was developed in Japan, where it is widely used in clinical practice. However, there is no published information concerning the use of bucillamine in patients from countries other than Japan. This preliminary study was designed to assess the clinical efficacy and tolerability of bucillamine in Korean patients with rheumatoid arthritis. Patients were treated with bucillamine 300 mg/day for 16 weeks. Clinical efficacy was demonstrated by improvement in the Ritchie index, number of painful joints, number of swollen joints, duration of morning stiffness, walking time and erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR); these improvements generally became statistically significant by week 8 of treatment. There were also improvements in rheumatoid factor titre and C-reactive protein levels. The rate of final global improvement was 73%. The most frequent adverse effects were mucocutaneous signs, which were generally mild and usually resolved with symptomatic treatment despite continuation ofbucillamine therapy. Bucillamine is expected to be a useful DMARD for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis, and further large-scale, long term clinical trials, particularly comparing bucillamine with penicillamine, are warranted.