The popular gout drug, Uloric, has been linked to heart-related fatalities in a recent Uloric FDA warning. Patients, doctors and the medical community should be aware that there may be increased risks of deaths due to heart-related problems as a result of Uloric use.

The recently released Uloric FDA warning advises patients of the results of a clinical trial.

What is Uloric?

Uloric, generically known as febuxostat, is an uric acid reducer that is taken by patients who have been diagnosed with gout. Gout is a condition that affects the joints with symptoms of inflammation, severe pain and redness. Those with gout experience these symptoms and often need prescription medication to help ease pain and inflammation.

Gout is caused when urate crystals accumulate in the body. They can settle in the joints and cause intense pain and inflammation. A common cause of gout is a diet high in fatty foods and alcohol. When a person’s body tries to digest foods like this, purines are produced.

The body’s reaction to purines is the development of uric acid. Too much of this can crystalize, settle in the joints and induce gout.

Uloric seeks to help this condition by lowering the uric acids in the body. However, there have been studies that link the use of Uloric with an increase in heart-related deaths.

Uloric FDA Warning

Recently, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration put out a Uloric FDA warning stating that it noticed an increase in heart-related fatalities among febuxostat users.

This Uloric FDA warning states that in a safety trial conducted by drug manufacturer Takeda with over 6,000 patients, it was discovered that there was a “higher rate of heart-related problems in patients treated with febuxostat compared to allopurinol,” another gout medication.

“These problems included heart attacks, strokes, and heart-related deaths. As a result, [the FDA] required an additional safety clinical trial after the drug was approved and on the market to better understand these differences, and that trial was finished recently,” the Uloric FDA warning read.

The Uloric FDA warning went on to say that the main outcome of the study found “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 FDA made sure to note in the Uloric warning that when compared to allopurinol, febuxostat did not seem to increase the risk of these combined events. But when Uloric was looked at separately, the drug “showed an increased risk of heart-related deaths and death from all causes.”

If you are taking Uloric, the FDA recommends you discuss the Uloric FDA warning with your doctor before ceasing treatment. The FDA encourages the public, patients and medical professionals to report side effects to the FDA MedWatch program.

If you take Uloric and are worried about the risks laid out in the Uloric FDA warning, you may benefit from speaking with an experienced attorney. Filing an Uloric lawsuit may be an option for you to help recover the costs associated with illnesses related to Uloric use.