One complementary medication that has been investigated for the treatment of OA is glucosamine. Glucosamine is a derivative of cellular glucose metabolism.glucosamine hydrochloride (HCl) and glucosamine sulfate. Glucosamine sulfate requires compound stabilizers in the form of salts and has 74% purity. Glucosamine HCl lacks the sulfate group and has 99% purity. Therefore, glucosamine HCl in a dosage of 1,500 mg equals a dosage of 2,608 mg of glucosamine sulfate.