A drug costing less than 2p per pill could slash the risk of painful arthritis by almost a quarter.
Metformin has been used since the 1950s to treat diabetes, but a new study of 350,000 Britons, shows it reduces the risk of knee and hip osteoarthritis – wear and tear of the joints – by 24 per cent.
Scientists think the drug works by reducing inflammation in joints and stimulating the release of enzymes that protect against damage to cartilage which acts as the body’s shock absorber.
Osteoarthritis affects nearly 10 million people in the UK and each year the NHS carries out more than 200,000 hip and knee replacements.
Millions more need daily painkillers or regular steroid injections to manage the pain.
Researchers from Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou, China, tracked the records of 350,000 patients in the UK Biobank database of anonymised medical information for over a decade.
They found those on metformin for diabetes were much less likely to later develop arthritic joints.
Researchers said the evidence suggested the drug – which costs the NHS 50p for 28 tablets, or 1.7p each – even worked in those who didn’t have diabetes.
Osteoarthritis affects nearly 10 million people in the UK and each year the NHS carries out more than 200,000 hip and knee replacements
Writing in the journal Clinical Rheumatology, the team said: ‘We found metformin was associated with a significantly lower risk of osteoarthritis of the knee or hip. We think it may protect against the disease in the general population.’
Professor Lucy Donaldson of Arthritis UK welcomed the ‘encouraging’ evidence and called for ‘high quality clinical trials to establish whether it could be part of future prevention strategies’.