Press Articles
Arthritis pain trials bring £26m to Scotland
January 7, 2008
The SCOT Trial (Standard Care versus Celecoxib Outcome Trial), funded by Pfizer, has been launched in Scotland and will reinforce Scotland as a leader in the delivery of major clinical trials.
The SCOT Trial will compare various arthritis treatments such as ibuprofen, diclofenac and a newer drug, Celecoxib.
All the drugs are non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) and the trial will compare new and old NSAIDs (Celecoxib is a newer NSAID), how they perform in patients and their long term safety. Four hundred GP practices and 16,000 patients will participate in the trial.
Scotland will lead the trial, backed up the sophisticated national patient electronic registration and tracking systems.
Within Scotland, the University of Dundee will take the lead in partnership with the Universities of Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen. This will be supported by a collaboration with Professor Chris Hawkey, a world opinion leader on the effects of NSAIDs on the stomach, based at Nottingham University.
Professor Jesper Hallas from the University of Southern Denmark will also join the trial as Denmark has a similar patient tracking system to Scotland and the results from Denmark will serve as a check that the Scottish results can be generalised to other countries. Trial subjects must be aged 60 or over and should already be taking an NSAID such as ibuprofen or diclofenac which has been prescribed by their GP for arthritis.
Professor Tom MacDonald, lead investigator and Professor of Clinical Pharmacology at Dundee University, said: “This trial is of international significance because it will compare the various NSAID treatments prescribed for arthritis sufferers in usual care. There has been a long running debate as to the most effective pain relief with fewest side effects. This study will help us draw some solid conclusions to benefit arthritis sufferers”.
Professor Ian Ford from the Robertson Centre for Biostatistics at Glasgow University said: “Scotland now has one of the best electronic patient record systems in the world. We can harness the power of the information this gives us to examine medicines in the real life setting of care within the NHS”.
Professor Chris Hawkey said: “Traditional NSAID drugs can cause bleeding from the lining of the stomach. Celecoxib is though to minimise these stomach problems, but we are unclear what treatment is best overall. The record system in Scotland offers a great opportunity to resolve this.”
Professor Roger Sturrock from Glasgow University said: “This trial is of major significance because it harnesses the strengths of academia and the NHS in Scotland to deliver a world-leading study.”
Professor Stuart Ralston from Edinburgh University said: “NSAIDs play an important role in the treatment of arthritis but we know that side effects, such as stomach upset, can occur in some patients. This study will provide important new information on the risks and benefits of older versus newer NSAID, and will help us to decide what the best treatment is for the individual patient.”
Professor David Reid at the University of Aberdeen said: “This trial coming to Scotland demonstrates how universities and the NHS can work in partnership to answer some of the big questions in the treatment of arthritis.”
Dundee GP Alex Watson said: “It is important that this study is done in the ‘real world’ of Scottish general practice and not just with the highly selected patients attending a specialist research .”
Source: Scottish Enterprise