Takeda’s Uloric gout medicine is a popular option for treating this common type of arthritis, which involves a buildup of uric acid. Uloric and other gout drugs like it work to lower the acid levels in the blood.

Unfortunately, Uloric gout medicine has been linked with some serious side effects, leading the FDA to issue a safety announcement in 2017 to warn the public about Uloric’s increased risk of cardiovascular-related death. The announcement came after this information was revealed in a Takeda clinical trial.

Uloric Gout Medicine

Uloric (also known by its generic name, febuxostat) is manufactured by pharmaceutical giant Takeda, and was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 2009—less than a decade ago. Uloric is used to treat gout, a form of arthritis, which can cause issues like redness, severe joint pain, swelling, and more. In order to combat these issues, Uloric works to reduce the amount of uric acid in the body, a substance associated with gout.

Unfortunately, the gout medicine Uloric has been linked with some serious side effects that patients may not be aware of, including some that may become fatal.

Side Effects of Uloric Gout Medicine

While any medication will come with certain side effects, these potential complications should always be made clear in the drug’s marketing and product information, with the most severe risks highlighted in Black Box warning labels. But Uloric users may not have been given adequate warning about certain major complications linked with Uloric gout medicine, which in some cases can be life-threatening.

Uloric has been linked with several heart-related side effects including strokes, cardiac ischemia requiring emergency surgery, fatal heart attacks, and non-deadly heart attacks.

Indeed, a clinical trial by Takeda (which was required as part of the FDA’s approval of Uloric) has revealed an increased risk of death from cardiovascular problems linked with the use of Uloric gout medicine. The clinical trial involved around 6,000 gout patients, and preliminary results show this increased risk.

In response to the preliminary results of the clinical trial, the FDA has noted: “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.”

Filing an Uloric Gout Medicine Lawsuit

If you or someone you love has suffered from a heart attack or other serious complications after taking Uloric gout medicine, you may be able to file a lawsuit. While filing a lawsuit cannot take away the pain and suffering caused by side effects of Uloric, or bring a loved one back to life after an Uloric heart attack, it may be able to help alleviate the financial burden caused by medical expenses, lost wages, and other damages.