Neurologists in their practice often face pain syndrome against the background of degenerative-dystrophic changes in the spine, in the therapy of which drugs of delayed-action symptomatic therapy of osteoarthritis (OA) (Symptomatic Slow Acting Drugs for OsteoArthritis, SYSADOA) are used. SYSADOA includes medicinal drugs (MD) containing chondroitin sulfate (CS), glucosamine, avocado/soy unsaponifiables (ASU), diacerein, intra-articular hyaluronic acid, which can give symptomatic benefit with low toxicity, and with prolonged (up to 6 months) the course of treatment. In Russia, they are guided by the clinical recommendations of the European Society for Clinical and Economic Aspects of Osteoporosis and Osteoarthritis (ESCEO), in which the algorithm for managing patients with knee joint OA with the appointment of CS and glucosamine sulfate (GS) form the basic part of the treatment of OA (Step 1). In order to achieve the expected clinical effects in patients with OA medical drugs (MD) of the SYSADOA class must meet the following criteria: 1) be of pharmaceutical quality and standardization with studied pharmacokinetics; 2) meet the criteria of evidence-based medicine (to have randomized clinical trials (RCTs), to have confirmed the effectiveness of meta-analyses of studies and /or systematic reviews, to have confirmed the safety of use in comorbid patients, to have the conclusions of fundamental and clinical studies of recent years justifying the need for its use); 3) be approved by the regulator — the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation (be present in the current Clinical Recommendations of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation and standards for the treatment of diseases of the musculoskeletal system); 4) be approved and recommended by international and Russian professional communities, associations, experts; 5) have clinical and economic advantages in terms of the outcomes of therapy and the lowest cost-effectiveness coefficient per patient. After analyzing the research materials, it was concluded that the pharmacologically standardized CS (Chondroguard®) satisfies all the above criteria for the reasonable choice of a SYSADOA class MD for the treatment of patients with OA of various localization.
