CoLchicine for Treatment of OsteoArthritis of the Knee (CLOAK): Clinical and biochemical outcomes from a three-month double-blind, placebo-controlled study
Authors' conclusion
This double-blind placebo-controlled trial of colchicine for KOA failed to demonstrate improvement in pain, function, or synovial effusion size in comparison to placebo at three months.
Study context
- Population
- Participants with symptomatic knee OA and radiographic Kellgren-Lawrence grades 2/3enrolled
- Participants
- 120 participants
- Comparison
- Daily colchicine for 3 months vs placebo, without concurrent NSAID use
- Primary endpoint
- Between-group change in VAS for index knee pain
- Follow-up
- Three months
Methodological detailsdouble-blind, placebo-controlled
- Double-blind
- Placebo-controlled
Primary result
As reported in the abstract
Improvement in VAS pain · end of study (three months)
- No significant differences between colchicine and placebo
Secondary outcomes
Knee Osteoarthritis Outcome Scores (KOOS) scores and effusion size · end of study
- No significant differences in improvement
Subsets with more severe visual analog score (VAS) pain, worse radiographic disease, or higher hsCRP or serum urate at baseline (subgroups)
- No significant clinical benefit from colchicine vs placebo
OA-related serum biomarkers
- Significant improvement with colchicine in hsCRP and β-NGF
- P < 0.05
- Trending improvement with colchicine in PGE2, IL-1ra, IL-8 and VEGF
- P < 0.16
Original publication
CoLchicine for Treatment of OsteoArthritis of the Knee (CLOAK): Clinical and biochemical outcomes from a three-month double-blind, placebo-controlled study. Semin Arthritis Rheum. Published 23 August 2026. doi:10.
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