Effectiveness of Various Dosages and Administration Methods of Tanezumab for the Treatment of Pain in Knee and Hip Osteoarthritis: a Network Meta-Analysis

You-Zhi Cai; Liu-Yan Nie; Jia-Qi Ruan; Kun Zhao

doi:10.1016/j.clinthera.2021.10.011

Effectiveness of Various Dosages and Administration Methods of Tanezumab for the Treatment of Pain in Knee and Hip Osteoarthritis: a Network Meta-Analysis

Clin Ther. 2021 Dec;43(12):2116-2126. doi: 10.1016/j.clinthera.2021.10.011. Epub 2021 Nov 21.

Authors

You-Zhi Cai¹, Liu-Yan Nie², Jia-Qi Ruan³, Kun Zhao⁴

Affiliations

¹ Department of Orthopedics and Center for Sport Medicine, The First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, China.
² Department of Rheumatology, Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, China; School of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China.
³ School of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China.
⁴ Department of Orthopedics and Center for Sport Medicine, The First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, China; School of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China. Electronic address: zhaokun0428@zju.edu.cn.

PMID: 34819241
DOI: 10.1016/j.clinthera.2021.10.011

Abstract

Background: Previous meta-analyses have reported the superiority of tanezumab versus placebo in the treatment of osteoarthritis (OA). However, they did not compare different injection methods (intravenous or subcutaneous), doses of injection.

Objective: The goal of this network meta-analysis (NMA) was to evaluate the therapeutic effects of different dosages and methods of injection of tanezumab on relieving pain in patients with OA.

Methods: An online systematic search was performed by using the PubMed, Cochrane Library, EMBASE, and ClinicalTrials.gov databases from inception to November 9, 2019. The goal was to identify randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that concentrated on the therapeutic effects of different dosages and methods of injection of tanezumab in patients with OA. The pairwise meta-analyses with the fixed effects model were undertaken with the "meta" package using R 3.6.0 programming language. In addition, an NMA with fixed effects was assessed using a gemtc software. The surface under the cumulative ranking curve value of each intervention was calculated to obtain a hierarchy of treatments.

Results: Of the 328 RCTs identified through the literature search, 12 RCTs were included in the current NMA. In terms of the Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index pain and physical function subscales, the most effective treatment was intravenous injection of tanezumab (10 mg; surface under the cumulative ranking curve values of 90% and 88%, respectively), and the least effective therapy was subcutaneous injection of tanezumab (2.5 mg; 20% and 19%).

Conclusions: To achieve high therapeutic efficacy and avoid treatment failure, an intravenous injection of tanezumab (10 mg) is recommended as an efficacious therapy, facilitating pain relief in patients with OA. However, this conclusion may also be affected by the limitations of this study owing to the small sample size and data heterogeneity, and further research should therefore be conducted to eliminate these limitations and to confirm the findings.

Keywords: effectiveness; hip or knee osteoarthritis; network meta-analysis; tanezumab.

Publication types

Meta-Analysis
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Antibodies, Monoclonal, Humanized
Double-Blind Method
Humans
Network Meta-Analysis
Osteoarthritis, Hip* / complications
Osteoarthritis, Hip* / drug therapy
Osteoarthritis, Knee* / complications
Osteoarthritis, Knee* / drug therapy
Pain
Pain Measurement
Treatment Outcome

Substances

Antibodies, Monoclonal, Humanized
tanezumab