ClinicalTrials.gg
CompletedNCT02469753STOPUpdated May 19, 2026

Interest of Continuous Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drug Treatment in Ankylosing Spondylitis Patients Treated by Anti-TNF Therapy in the Prevention of Radiographic Outcomes

A Phase 3 interventional study of NSAIDs and NSAIDs in Ankylosing Spondylitis, sponsored by University Hospital, Bordeaux. Completed at 22 sites in 2 countries. Open to participants aged 18 Years and older. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-05-19.

Sponsored by University Hospital, Bordeaux · Phase 3, Interventional, and Treatment

Phase
Phase 3
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
188
Allocation
Randomized
Ages
18 Years and older
Sex
All
01

Study summary

Ankylosing spondylitis (AS) is a frequent chronic inflammatory rheumatic disease that affects the axial skeleton, starting in the sacroiliac joints and spreading to the spine in most patients. Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) are the primary treatment for AS. Even if the use of anti-TNF agents has demonstrated good clinical efficacy in controlling inflammation, in contrast to other conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis and psoriatic arthritis, anti-TNF treatment has failed to demonstrate any benefit on the structural progression of AS, some data even suggesting that it may accelerate the formation of syndesmophytes that seems to be an independent process of TNF. Conversely, NSAIDs inhibit ossification phenomena independently of their anti-inflammatory properties, owing to a specific action on bone formation via prostaglandin inhibition.

Several features suggest that a continuous NSAID therapy is needed, in addition to anti-TNF treatment, to prevent syndesmophyte formation in AS patients.

02

Conditions studied

  • Ankylosing Spondylitis

Keywords

  • NSAIDs
  • Anti-TNF
  • syndesmophytes
  • mSASSS
03

In context

Spondylitis, Ankylosing

531 studies on the registry are indexed under Spondylitis, Ankylosing; 98 are open to participants now.

This study's enrollment of 188 is above the median of 88 across 302 interventional studies indexed under Spondylitis, Ankylosing.

Browse Spondylitis, Ankylosing studies →

Lead sponsor

University Hospital, Bordeaux is the lead sponsor of 806 studies on the registry; 197 are open to participants now.

Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.

04

Who can participate

Ages eligible
18 Years and older
Sexes eligible
All
Accepts healthy volunteers
No

Go through the criteria one by one — yes, no or not sure — and take the list to your doctor or the study team. Kept in this browser only.

Inclusion criteria

  • Patients aged over 18 years old
  • Patients who fulfil 1984 modified New York criteria for ankylosing spondylitis:
  • SA patients with indications for anti-TNF treatment initiation according to the French society of Rheumatology guidelines.
  • Being affiliated to a health insurance system
  • Having signed an form (later than the day of inclusion and before any examination required by the research)

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Patients who present another chronic systemic inflammatory disorder, different from ankylosing spondylitis.
  • Patients who present to treatment with NSAIDs.
  • Patient with daily treatment at a dosage ≥ 10 mg/day
  • Pregnant or breastfeeding women
  • Contra-indication to MRI (pacemakers, aneurysm clips, artificial heart valves, ear implants, metal fragments or foreign objects in the eyes, skin or body, claustrophobia) or refusing to undergo MRI
  • Women that refuse to an effective method for all the study duration
Terms in these criteria, in plain language(4)

Underlined terms in the criteria open these too. Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.

Informed consent

Before you join, the study team explains what taking part involves — its purpose, what happens, the risks and possible benefits — and answers your questions, so you can decide freely. Consent is usually recorded on a form (the informed consent form, ICF) signed by you or, where the law allows, by someone legally authorised to decide for you.

You can keep asking questions during the study, you are told of new information that matters, and you can choose to leave at any time.

Contraindication

A reason a treatment, test or procedure should not be given to a particular person, such as an allergy, another illness or a medicine they take.

Corticosteroids (steroids)

Anti-inflammatory medicines such as prednisone, prednisolone and dexamethasone — not the anabolic steroids used for muscle.

Studies differ in what they allow: check which steroid medicines, routes (tablets, injections, creams, inhalers, eye drops) and doses this study accepts.

Contraception

Ways of preventing pregnancy. “Highly effective” methods fail less than 1% of the time a year when used correctly — for example an IUD or an implant.

Criteria usually say which methods count and how long to keep using them after the last dose, sometimes for male participants too. Some studies accept a partner’s vasectomy if it was confirmed successful and that person is the participant’s only sexual partner.

05

Study design

Phase
Phase 3
Primary purpose
Treatment
Allocation
Randomized
Intervention model
Parallel assignment
Masking
None (open label)
Enrollment
188 participants (actual)

Study arms

  • Experimental
    Patients treated with anti-TNF and continuous daily NSAIDs

    Drug: NSAIDs · Drug: anti-TNF

  • Active comparator
    Patients treated with anti-TNF and NSAIDs on demand

    Drug: NSAIDs · Drug: anti-TNF

Interventions

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Proportion of patients who show a significant radiographic progression between the two randomised groups of patients

    Time frame: 24 month after the begin of the treatment

Secondary outcomes

  1. Radiologic evolution between-group comparison

    This measure is a composite with : * MRI * Clinical evolution of patients * Quantitative analysis of mSASSS score

    Time frame: At the inclusion (Day 0) and 24 month after after the inclusion (Day 0)(begin of the treatment)

07

Study locations

22 sites
  • Service de rhumatologie - CHU d'Amiens
    Amiens, France
  • Service de rhumatologie - CHU de Besançon
    Besançon, France
  • Service de Rhumatologie - CHU de Bordeaux
    Bordeaux, France
  • service de rhumatologie - AP-HP - Hôpital Ambroise Paré
    Boulogne-Billancourt, France
  • Service de rhumatologie - CHU de Brest
    Brest, France
  • service de rhumatologie - CH de Cahors
    Cahors, France
  • service de rhumatologie - CH Le Mans
    Le Mans, France
  • service de rhumatologie - CHU de Limoges
    Limoges, France
  • service de rhumatologie - CHU de Montpellier
    Montpellier, France
  • service de rhumatologie - CHU de Nancy
    Nancy, France
  • Service de rhumatologie - CHU de Nice
    Nice, France
  • service de rhumatologie - CHR d'Orléans
    Orléans, France
  • service de rhumatologie - AP-HP - Hôpital Henri Mondor
    Paris, France
  • Service de rhumatologie - AP-HP - Hôpital Lariboisière
    Paris, France
  • service de rhumatologie - AP-HP- Hôpital La Pitié Salpétrière
    Paris, France
  • service de rhumatologuie - CH de Pau
    Pau, France
  • service de rhumatologie - CHU de Rouen
    Rouen, France
  • service de rhumatologie - CHU de Saint-Etienne
    Saint-Etienne, France
  • service de rhumatologie - CHU de Strasbourg
    Strasbourg, France
  • service de rhumatologie - CHU de Toulouse
    Toulouse, France
  • Service de rhumatologie - CHU de Tours
    Tours, France
  • service de Rhumatologie - CH Princesse Grace
    Monaco, Monaco
08

Timeline

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
ElapsedEstimatedEstimated, not yet reachedSimilar studies: half by the dot; the band is the middle halfHalf of similar studies reached it by the dot; the band is the middle half, from a quarter to three quarters

Ran from Oct 2015 to primary completion in Jul 2024, 104 months.

Of 40 phase 3 interventional studies under Spondylitis, Ankylosing, half reached primary completion within 21 months of starting (the median), counting those still running; a quarter within 15 and three quarters within 32. This study's 104 months is above that.

How these figures are worked out, and which studies are left out of them.

Registered
Jun 9, 2015
First posted
Jun 11, 2015
StartActual
Oct 23, 2015
Primary completionActual
Jul 4, 2024
CompletionActual
Jul 4, 2024
Last update
May 19, 2026
What these dates mean
Start.
When the first participant enrolled; while estimated, when the study expects to open to recruitment.
Primary completion.
When the last participant was examined or treated to collect data for the study's main question, its primary outcome. A study that stopped early gives the date its data collection stopped.
Completion.
When the last participant's last visit took place, for every outcome, secondary ones and side effects included: the end of the study. Often later than primary completion, sometimes the same day.
Actual and Est.
Actual means the registry says the date has happened. Est. (estimated) is a date the sponsor plans or expects. It can still move, and the sponsor is expected to change it to actual once it has passed.
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on May 19, 2026, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
09

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT02469753
Responsible party
Sponsor
First posted
Jun 11, 2015
Start date
Oct 23, 2015
Primary completion
Jul 4, 2024
Completion
Jul 4, 2024
Last update
May 19, 2026

Study contacts

Rodolphe THIEBAUT, Prof
study chair · University Hospital Bordeaux, France
Thierry SCHAEVERBEKE, Prof
principal investigator · University Hospital Bordeaux, France

Oversight

Data monitoring committee
No
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

Not currently enrolling

This study is completed, as verified in Jul 2024. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.

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