Salazopyrin in rheumatoid arthritis

Abstract

After a 12-week preliminary period of observation 32 patients with consistently active rheumatoid arthritis (RA) were treated for up to 22 weeks with salazopyrin. Seven patients could not tolerate the drug. The remaining 25 patients had a marked improvement in subjective clinical state and significant falls in serum C-reactive protein and the erythrocyte sedimentation rate 6 weeks after treatment began. The improvement was maintained after 22 weeks. The results strongly suggest that further trials with this drug in RA are needed.

Sulfasalazine in early rheumatoid arthritis. A 48‐week double‐blind, prospective, placebo‐controlled study

“…Despite promising preliminary results, the drug was forgotten for decades, partly because of the findings from a (poorly designed) British study that demonstrated negative results (33), and partly because of the contemporary discovery of corticosteroid treatment (34). The results obtained by McConkey and coworkers (35,36) during the late 1970s prompted renewed interest in the drug, especially in Europe.…”

Stopping the rot: the stories behind methotrexate, sulphasalazine and hydroxychloroquine

“…SSZ remained out of favour for the treatment of RA for 30 years, though it continued to be used in the treatment of inflammatory bowel disease, being approved for this indication in the United States in 1950 22 . It was only after McConkey's group in Birmingham published their positive results in 1978 and 1980 23,24 that interest was rekindled. Such was his conviction that Brian McConkey was happy to pre‐empt the second study in his hypothetical article on the treatment of RA, which appeared in 1978 25 …”

Neue Aspekte der Therapie mit langfristigen Antirheumatika (sog. Basistherapeutika)*

“…Die Wiederentdeckung des bereits ursprünglich für die Behandlung der chronischen Polyarthritis 1941 eingeführten Sulfasalazin als langfristiges Antirheumatikum (52) ..…”