The investigators designed a randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled, multicenter study. Adults with active rheumatoid arthritis and inadequate response to methotrexate will be enrolled, meeting the 1987 revised American College of Rheumatology (ACR) or 2010 ACR & European alliance of associations for rheumatology (EULAR) classification criteria. Two hundred forty patients at 18 to 65 years of age will be enrolled in the study, and be randomly assigned (in a 1:1 ratio) to one of the two arms (group1: tetrandrine 40mg tid for 24 weeks or group 2: placebo two tablets tid for 12 weeks, and then 40mg tid for 12 weeks). Follow-up visits will occur on weeks 4, 12 and 24. The end points were 20% improvement in American College of Rheumatology criteria (ACR20) in 12 week.
The purpose of this study is to assess the efficacy and safety of tetrandrine, compared with placebo in 12 week or 24 week in RA patients with inadequate response to methotrexate.