Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Uloric: New Drug for Gout

I was watching TV this morning and was struck by a new prescription drug ad I had never seen.  Uloric, for gout.  Gout is a build up of uric acid crystals in the big toe joint.  As you can imagine, pain in the big toe is a big pain.  Some common things to do with gout is to avoid purine rich foods as this can be a catalyst.  What struck me about Uloric though were the symptoms.  Increased risk of heart disease.  Well, if you have Gout you're already at an increase for heart disease, so no brainer.  But death also was.  This was the reason the FDA didn't approve the drug in the first place in the first two trials.  Then in the 3rd trial they were able to show that this drug didn't increase your odds of dying anymore then another Gout drug on the market.  Read again.  Not anymore then the other drug.  It doesn't say no risk, just not anymore then the other drug.  But you know what, the side effect that got me the most was joint pain.  Joint pain was why your taking the drug to begin with!  It just seems crazy to me.  Ok, I'm off my soap box.

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