title: Efficacy profile of bucillamine in rheumatoid arthritis patients in a large observational cohort study, IORRA.
abstract: Bucillamine (Buc) is a disease-modifying antirheumatic drug (DMARD) developed in Japan, which has been used as one of the first-line DMARDs for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in Japan. However, direct comparison of this drug with standard DMARDs including sulfasalazine (SASP) and methotrexate (MTX) has been scarcely reported. We therefore tried to evaluate the clinical efficacy of Buc by analyzing the database from the long-term observational cohort study IORRA (previously known as J-ARAMIS). The cross-sectional analysis revealed that responses to Buc treatment were better in males, patients with shorter duration of illness, and those who were rheumatoid factor-negative. In the longitudinal analysis, although there was no marked difference among the baseline variables of patients with Buc, SASP, and MTX, the percentage of patients exhibiting moderate or good response to treatment, as rated using the European League Against Rheumatism improvement criteria, was higher in the Buc group (41.0%) than in the MTX (32.6%) and SASP groups (25.6%). These data support Buc as a candidate for being a first-line drug for the treatment of patients with RA.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Rheumatology, Tokyo Women's Medical University, 10-22 Kawada-cho, Shinjiku-ku, Tokyo 162-0054, Japan.
authors.forename: Masako
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Iwatani
authors.forename: Eisuke
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Inoue
authors.forename: Takahiro
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Nakamura
authors.forename: Ayako
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Nakajima
authors.forename: Masako
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hara
authors.forename: Taisuke
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Tomatsu
authors.forename: Naoyuki
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kamatani
authors.forename: Hisashi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yamanaka
mesh_terms: D000894:Anti-Inflammatory Agents, Non-Steroidal / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001172:Arthritis, Rheumatoid / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000503:physiopathology; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003545:Cysteine / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D004359:Drug Therapy, Combination; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D007596:Joints / Q000187:drug effects / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D008727:Methotrexate / Q000627:therapeutic use; D008875:Middle Aged; D010146:Pain / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology; D011239:Prednisolone; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012074:Remission Induction; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D012460:Sulfasalazine / Q000627:therapeutic use
chemical_list: D000894:Anti-Inflammatory Agents, Non-Steroidal; D012460:Sulfasalazine; D011239:Prednisolone; D003545:Cysteine; C026535:bucillamine; D008727:Methotrexate