After 30 weeks, just 5% of the slim group had developed tumours, not in the liver but in the lungs.
That made it little more than a diplomatic exercise aimed at expressing frustration over the Security Council's inaction and embarrassing Syria and its slim group of backers, which include Russia, China and Iran.
In the COBRA Slim group, there were two cases of increased appetite.
Fewer patients had a HAQ score of 0 in the MTX-TSU group (23.4%) than in the COBRA Slim group (51.2%) (P = 0.006).
In the COBRA Slim group, there were four toxicity problems related to therapy, comprising two cases of alopecia, one of tendinitis and one of stomatitis.
The lower cumulative disease activity in the COBRA Slim group during the first 16 weeks of treatment might have important consequences for the future disease course [ 16, 17].
We analyzed 43 COBRA Slim and 47 MTX-TSU patients and found that 65.1% in the COBRA Slim group and 46.8% in the MTX-TSU group reached remission (P = 0.081).
In the MTX-TSU group, 11 of 23 AEs related to discomfort were intestinal problems (nausea and diarrhea), and 10 of 23 discomfort problems in the COBRA Slim group were intestinal issues (nausea and constipation).
Furthermore, 8 of 23 discomfort problems in the MTX-TSU group and 8 of 23 AEs related to discomfort in the COBRA Slim group were general malaise problems (dizziness, agitation, headache and fatigue).
Patients in the MTX-TSU and COBRA Slim groups showed comparable numbers and types of AEs related to therapy in the period during which their treatment schedules differed the most.
