The gout medication Uloric has been linked with a significant risk of Uloric heart-related death, placing thousands of patients in danger. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued a warning about this increased cardiovascular risk.

If someone you love has suffered from Uloric heart-related death, or if you have suffered from other serious complications, you may be able to file a lawsuit against the drug manufacturer.

Basics of Gout Drug Uloric

Uloric is a popular gout medication manufactured by Takeda, a major pharmaceutical company based out of the Chicago area. Uloric has quickly risen in popularity since its approval by the FDA and entrance to the drug market back in 2009. Uloric is also sold under its generic name, febuxostat.

Gout is a form of arthritis that includes symptoms like swelling, redness, and joint pain. Gout is associated with increased levels of uric acid. With this in mind, Uloric was made to reduce the amount of uric acid in a gout patient’s body.

In just the few years since its release onto the market, Uloric has quickly become one of the most widely used gout drugs. Unfortunately, despite its popularity, Uloric has been linked with some serious side effects—including the risk of Uloric heart-related death.

Risks Include Uloric Heart-Related Death

It’s expected that any medication will come with certain mild or rare side effects, but even these should be adequately warned about to both patients and the medical community. More serious side effects, like the risk of cardiovascular problems or even Uloric heart-related death, should certainly be included in warnings, but a growing number of patients are claiming that they were not given adequate warning about the severity of Uloric’s risks.

Recent studies, including a clinical safety trial from Takeda, have found that side effects of Uloric may include substantial risk of Uloric heart-related death, as well as non-fatal heart problems.

The FDA required that Takeda undergo a clinical safety trial for the drug. The preliminary results of that trial are now available. According to the study, which involved more than 6,000 gout patients, Uloric places patients at a higher risk of Uloric heart-related death when compared with the gout drug allopurinol.

“The primary outcome was a combination of heart-related death, non-deadly heart attack, non-deadly stroke, and a condition of inadequate blood supply to the heart requiring urgent surgery. The preliminary results show that overall, febuxostat did not increase the risk of these combined events compared to allopurinol. However, when the outcomes were evaluated separately, febuxostat showed an increased risk of heart-related deaths and death from all causes,” the FDA said in a statement about the results of the clinical trial.

Filing a Uloric Lawsuit

If you or someone you love has experienced Uloric side effects, or if someone you love has suffered from Uloric heart-related death, you may be able to file a lawsuit. While filing a lawsuit cannot take away the pain and suffering caused by Uloric side effects, or bring a loved one back to life, litigation may be able to help alleviate the financial burden caused by medical expenses, lost wages, and other damages.