There are some new gout treatments out there….finally!

First, some background-what is gout all about?

It is a condition caused by chronically high blood levels of urate/uric acid.  Only 1/3 of patients actually develop symptoms.  Joints are the most commonly affected by the high uric acid -like the big toe!  Gout can also cause kidney stones.

What kind of symptoms does gout cause?

Gout can cause swelling, redness and tenderness of the joint -which most people describe as “painful!”  The good news is that most gout attacks will eventually clear up (within a few days to a few weeks) even without treatment.

How is gout treated?

There are two ways to treat gout -by decreasing the amount of urate in the system by increasing clearing the urate from the system OR by decreasing the amount of urate produced by the body.

Typical treatments include allopurinol, colchicine and NSAIDs.

What are the new medications available to treat gout?

1.  Uloric (febuxostat) : This medication works like allopurinol -so it helps lower uric acid in the body.  It hasn’t really been proven to be any better then allopurinol with typical dosing.  So, with the price being about 20 times more then allopurinol (!)  go ahead and stick with allopurinol.  Uloric can be used IF allopurinol is not tolerated.

2.  Krystexxa (pegloticase): This medication works by breaking down the uric acid.  This medicine can seriously lower uric acid levels -the bad side is that it is 10 times more expensive then Uloric (which is 20 times more expensive then allopurinol) …pricey!  AND it has some major side effects, including risk of severe allergic reactions, gouty flares and possibly making heart failure worse.  Some major thought weighing positives and negatives should be done before starting on this med.

There you go -some info on the new meds.  Have some questions or input -LOVE to hear from you!  Please leave a comment or email me at nova@getpharmacyadvice.com