Avocado/soybean unsaponifiables, ASU EXPANSCIENCE™, are strictly different from the nutraceutical products claiming ASU appellation

Laboratoires EXPANSCIENCE have discovered, devel- oped and produced a pharmaceutical product, PIASCLE- DINE � 300, which is effective for the ''symptomatic, delayed-effect treatment of arthrosis of the hip and knee'' (wording from the MA indication). The active principle of this pharmaceutical product is called ASU EXPAN- SCIENCEand is composed of a mixture of soybean unsaponifiables and specific avocado unsaponifiables. The specificities of the product and elements of the process are protected by patents. Recently, Au RY et al. have demonstrated that a so called ASU extract, named ASU-NMX 1000TM (Nutramax Labora- tories Inc, Edgewood, MD, USA), suppressed tumour ne- crosis factor (TNF)-a, IL-1b, cyclooxygenase (COX)-2 and iNOS gene expression, and PGE2 and nitric oxide produc- tion in articular chondrocytes and monocyte/macrophages 1 . In the introduction, following a brief point on arthrosis, the mediators involved and the usual treatments (NSAIDs) prescribed for treating this pathology, the authors propose the use of avocado and soybean unsaponifiables (ASU) as an alternative or additional therapeutic approach. To make their case, the authors list and describe several clinical, animal and in vitro studies demonstrating the phar- macological and clinical efficacy of ASU. We must draw your attention to the fact that the ASU used and tested in all of the studies referred to in the text are strictly original and unique ASU EXPANSCIENCEe active ingredient of the patented pharmaceutical product PIASCLEDINE � 300 from Laboratoires EXPANSCIENCE