COLING. MILLER ANDDEREKPEARSON 1. 1. Why a Book about Clinical Trials in Osteoporosis? There have been many books published about the design, conduct, and analysis of clinicaltrials. Whyareosteoporosistrialsaspecialcasethatdeserveabookoftheir own? There are three main reasons. First, most diseases have a well-understood definitionandaetiology. Osteoporosisisadiseasethatisunderstoodbythosewo- ing within the subspecialty, but currently there is no definition that is agreeable to both medical and scientific communities and its aetiology is poorly understood. It is within this framework that the...

Designed to be a practical handbook on clinical trial management in these key therapeutic areas, 'Clinical Trials in Rheumatoid Arthritis and Osteoarthritis' is aimed at principal investigators pharmaceutical physicians and other pharmaceutical staff involved in the design, conduct and monitoring of these increasingly complex diseases.

In the last several years a new classes of biologic agents have emerged and changed the treatment paradigm for patients, not only with classically defined rheumatoid arthritis, but also with other related diseases such as ankylosing...