Clinical stage pharmaceutical company Vascarta announced on Tuesday that it has commenced a phase I clinical study of VAS101 (topical curcumin gel) in osteoarthritis (OA) at Clinical Research Australia.

A total of 60 patients have been enrolled in the randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled phase I clinical study of VAS101 in Perth, Australia.

The study is being carried out under the direction of Dr. Adrian Lopresti, the principal investigator. So far, 19 patients have started treatment to receive either VAS101 or placebo once every two days for 28 days to date. A phase II study in OA is expected to start in 2026, subject to positive results.

The study's primary objective is to evaluate the safety and tolerability of the product on knee pain in adult patients with chronic knee osteoarthritis. Secondary objectives include evaluating the effect of VAS101 on symptom resolution, quality of life and daily function; changes in the use of analgesics; and the presence of type II collagen cleavage products (CTX-II).