The authors would like to thank the patients who were involved in this study, the
A3921041 investigators and study team. The authors would like to acknowledge Makoto
Suzuki, Hiroyuki Nakamura, Keiko Yazawa, and Yukako Ohno for their valuable contribution
to the study.
This study was sponsored by Pfizer Inc. Editorial support under the direction of the
authors was provided by Karen Irving and Daniel Binks, PhD, of Complete Medical Communications
and was funded by Pfizer Inc. The specific ethical bodies that approved study A3921041
are as follows: National Hospital Organization Chiba-East Hospital, Chiba; The University
of Tokyo Hospital IRB, Tokyo; National Hospital Organization Sagamihara National Hospital,
Kanagawa; Niigata University Medical Dental Hospital IRB, Niigata; National Hospital
Organization Osaka Minami Center, Osaka; University of Occupational and Environmental
Health Hospital IRB, Fukuoka; Tokyo Women’s Medical University Hospital IRB, Tokyo;
Tokyo Medical and Dental University Hospital, Faculty of Medicine IRB, Tokyo; IRB
of Saitama Medical Center, Saitama Medical University, Saitama; National Hospital
Organization Murayama Medical Center IRB, Tokyo; Kumamoto Saishunso National Hospital
IRB, Kumamoto; Taga General Hospital IRB, Ibaraki; Juntendo Tokyo Koto Geriatric Medical
Center IRB, Tokyo; National Hospital Organization Tokyo Medical Center IRB, Tokyo;
Sasaki Foundation Kyoundo Hospital IRB, Tokyo; National Hospital Organization Kyushu
Medical Center IRB, Fukuoka; NS Clinic IRB, Tokyo; Juntendo University Hospital IRB,
Tokyo; Kitasato University Kitasato Institute Medical Center Hospital IRB, Saitama;
Fukushimadaiichi Hospital IRB, Fukushima; Chiba-ken Saiseikai Narashino Hospital IRB,
Chiba; Sone Clinic IRB, Tokyo; Aso Iizuka Hospital, Fukuoka; Medical Co. LTA Kyushu
Clinical Pharmacology Research Clinic IRB, Fukuoka; National Hospital Organization
Central Review Board, Tokyo; Sasebo Chuo Hospital IRB, Nagasaki; Haradoi Hospital
IRB, Fukuoka; Sapporo City General Hospital IRB, Hokkaido; Nagoya University Hospital
IRB, Aichi; Hokkaido University Hospital IRB, Hokkaido; Hokkaido Medical Center for
Rheumatic Diseases IRB, Hokkaido; Toyooka Chuo Hospital, Hokkaido; Tsukuba University
Hospital IRB, Ibaraki; Kumamoto Orthopaedic Hospital IRB, Kumamoto; Higashihiroshima
Memorial Hospital IRB, Hiroshima; Kyoto University Hospital IRB, Kyoto; Nagasaki University
Hospital IRB, Nagasaki; The Hospital of Hyogo College of Medicine IRB, Hyogo; Inoue
Hospital IRB, Gunma; Keihin Central Clinic, Hisamitsu Clinic and Masabayashi Clinic
IRB, Tokyo; Hanna Hospital IRB, Osaka; IRB of St. Mary’s Hospital, Fukuoka; Wakaba
Hospital IRB, Saitama; Kitano Hospital IRB, Osaka; University Hospital, Kyoto Prefectural
University of Medicine IRB, Kyoto; Hiroshima Red Cross Atomic-Bomb Survivors Hospital
IRB, Hiroshima; Keio University Hospital IRB, Tokyo; Hamamatsu Clinical Research Network
IRB, Shizuoka, Japan.
Study investigators
Ryutaro Matsumura, Kazuhiko Yamamoto, Shigeto Tohma, Masaaki Nakano, Takeshi Kuroda,
Shiro Ohshima, Yoshiya Tanaka, Hisashi Yamanaka, Naoyuki Kamatani, Nobuyuki Miyasaka,
Dr Kouichi Amano, Tsutomu Takeuchi, Hajime Yamagata, Shunsuke Mori, Shuji Ohta, Hiroshi
Tsuda, Hisaji Ohshima, Kenjiro Yamanaka, Eiichi Suematsu, Yasuhiko Munakata, Yoshinari
Takasaki, Hide Yoshida, Hirobumi Kondo, Toshimichi Matsui, Katsumi Chiba, Yasushi
Nawata, Akihiro Yamaguchi, Yuji Yamanishi, Toshiyuki Ota, Yoshinobu Koyama, Eisuke
Shono, Tomomi Tsuru, Kiyoshi Migita, Yukitaka Ueki, Motohiro Oribe, Takao Sugiyama,
Yojiro Kawabe, Motokazu Kai, Shigenori Tamaki, Masakazu Kondo, Masaya Mukai, Atsushi
Kaneko, Naoki Ishiguro, Tatsuya Atsumi, Kazuhide Tanimura, Kou Katayama, Takayuki
Sumida, Mitsuru Sakaguchi, Michishi Tsukano, Mitsuhiro Iwahashi, Seizo Yamana, Daisuke
Kawabata, Atsushi Kawakami, Hajime Sano, Hiroshi Inoue, Tatsuo Hirose, Junji Chiba,
Kenshi Higami, Teruaki Nakano, Yasuhiko Hirabayashi, Masato Yagita, Yutaka Kawahito,
Takuya Sawabe. Data from this study were reported at ACR 2011, Chicago, USA, 9 November
2011.