Painful symptomatic osteoarthritis (OA) of the knee is a very common disease, especially in
older people (lifetime prevalence 9.5%). Current systemic pharmacological treatment options
are limited.
Many patients presenting with knee osteoarthritis are of an advanced age and suffer from
various co-morbidities. The benefit of the available systemic pharmacological treatment
options in these patients can be summarized as uncertain. Therefore, the investigation of new
symptomatic systemic pharmacological treatment options for knee OA is relevant. Even in
patients without known contraindications, the treatment period with non-steroidal
anti-inflammatory drugs should be kept short. It follows that the investigation of new
potentially anti-inflammatory substances is of interest in symptomatic OA of the knee.
Cannabidiol has anti-inflammatory and analgesic properties in animal models. We therefore
propose a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial to investigate the
potential efficacy of cannabidiol in painful symptomatic OA of the knee.