According to studies, the side effects of Uloric medication, used to treat gout, may include an increased risk of cardiac arrest or death.

Uloric (also known by its generic name, febuxostat) is a relatively recent gout medication manufactured by Chicago-based Takeda Pharmaceuticals. It was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) just in 2009.

Gout is a form of arthritis caused by a buildup of uric acid, which leads to redness, swelling, and severe joint pain. The medication Uloric works by reducing the amount of uric acid in the body, the acid associated with gout. While any medication will bring with it certain side effects, the side effects of Uloric medication may be more significant than a patient could reasonably expect.

Side Effects of Uloric Medication

The FDA has recently issued an alert regarding the gout medication Uloric. According to the FDA, Uloric (febuxostat) has been linked with an increased risk of certain side effects. These side effects of Uloric medication can reportedly include heart-related deaths.

The FDA required that Takeda, Uloric’s manufacturer, conduct a safety clinical trial on the drug after it granted approval. The trial involved thousands of gout patients treated with either fuboxostat or, as a comparison, allopurinol. These results will soon be undergoing review to determine results.

However, preliminary results are already available. The study, which included more than 6,000 gout patients, found that Uloric, when compared with allopurinol (also sold as Zyloprim and Aloprim), increased a patient’s risk of heart-related deaths, including from a Uloric heart attack.

According to an FDA statement, “[t]he 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.”

In the meantime, the FDA notes that “[h]ealth care professionals should consider this safety information when deciding whether to prescribe or continue patients on febuxostat.”

Other side effects of Uloric medication include strokes, cardiac ischemia requiring emergency surgery, and non-deadly Uloric heart attack.

Uloric Lawsuits

This is not the first time that Uloric has been the target of litigation. A whistleblower lawsuit was filed in 2012 by a former safety consultant for Takeda, alleging that the drug manufacturer actively hid essential information about negative side effects of Uloric medication from the government.

If you or someone you love has suffered from an Uloric heart attack or other side effects of Uloric medication, 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 medication, or bring a loved one back to life after an Uloric stroke, litigation may be able to help alleviate the financial burden caused by medical expenses, lost wages, and other damages.