Febuxostat 'effective for gout patients'

Febuxostat reduces serum urate level in gout patients more effectively than allopurinol or placebo, according to a new study published in the journal Arthritis Care and Research.

Scientists from the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Chicago and Dartmouth Medical School studied 1,072 patients with hyperuricemia (serum urate level more than or equal to 8mg/dl) and gout with normal or impaired kidney function.

Participants in the study were randomly divided into three groups. The first was further divided into three groups and subjects were given 80mg, 120mg or 240mg of febuxostat once a day.

The second group was divided into two parts. Both were given allopurinol once a day, dosed at 300mg or 100mg depending on renal function.

Meanwhile, the third group was administered placebo. All groups were treated for 28 weeks.

Results showed that the three febuxostat groups performed better, with higher percentages (69 per cent with 240mg treatment, 65 per cent with 120mg and 48 per cent with 80mg) reaching normal serum urate levels (less than 6mg/dl).

Only 22 per cent of the two allopurinol groups reached normal levels, and zero per cent of the placebo group showed these results.

The researchers concluded: "At all doses studied, febuxostat more effectively lowered and maintained serum urate levels less than 6mg/dl than did allopurinol (300 or 100 mg) or placebo in subjects with hyperuricemia and gout, including those with mild to moderately impaired renal function."

Febuxostat was granted marketing authority by the European Commission in May, and is due to be licensed in the UK shortly.

A spokeswoman for the Arthritis Research Campaign welcomed the latest finding on febuxostat and added that the drug would be a welcome addition to the small number of effective drugs used to treat gout.

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