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Amanda Nelson, MD
Amanda Nelson, MD

Amanda Nelson, MD, associate professor of medicine in the division of rheumatology, allergy and immunology, was featured in a USA Today article discussing the use of tanezumab as a treatment for osteoarthritis pain. Pfizer has tested the drug in more than 40 clinical trials and a long list of patients have reportedly gotten substantial relief. But in some cases, the article says, tanezumab can accelerate cartilage loss around joints. This rapid progressive osteoarthritis side affect struck about 3% of patient in recent clinical trials.

Nelson expressed concern that rapidly progressing osteoarthritis could occur more often in the “real world” than in the carefully controlled environment of clinical trials. It might also happen in a joint that wasn’t problematic already, which could disable patients even more that they already were.

If a patient “were trying to put off replacement of their right knee and ended up needing a left shoulder replacement, I mean, that’s really the thing that I think makes me extremely hesitant to use this,” said Nelson in the article. She also recognized that the pain reduction patients see with tanezumab is comparable to the relief people typically get with Tylenol or other so-called non-steroidal anti-inflammatories.

Read the USA Today article here.