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CLOPREONOl: corticosteroid in rheumatoid arthritis

60 patients with rheumatoid arthritis, on a mean dose of about 8mg prednisolone daily were randomised into 2 treatment groups: prednisolone twice daily each with the same total daily dose as before, o r cloprednol (Syntex) on~ daily. at half their original prednisolone dose (cloprednol is approximately twice as potent as prednisolone). Dosage was adjusted to give optimum control, and during the 6-month trial most patients' doses were increased. Goprednoi provided satisfactory responses in objective and subjective indices of disease activity but the prednisolone was the slightly more effective of the two. Measurement of fasting 8am cortisol levels indicated that cloprednol produced significantly less effect on the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenaJ axis. April. P. t.l aI.: CUITeDI Therapeutic Rerarc1l26: 61 S(Nov 1979)

0156-2703 /80/0209-00 13 $00.50/ 0 C ADIS Press lNPHARMA 9 Feb 1980 13