According to studies, the side effects of Uloric medicine, which is used as a gout treatment, may cause an increased risk of serious side effects including cardiac arrest or even death.

Uloric Background

Uloric (also known by its generic name, febuxostat) is a relatively new gout medicine. Uloric is manufactured by Takeda, a major pharmaceutical company based in the Chicago area.

Uloric is a recent addition to the market, first approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 2009 to treat gout. Gout is a form of arthritis, and can cause redness, swelling, and severe joint pain. Uloric medicine’s function is to reduce the amount of uric acid in the body, which is a main factor of gout. Unfortunately, Uloric medicine has been linked with some serious side effects.

While any medication will come with certain mild or rare complications, patients claim that the side effects of Uloric medicine may be far more severe than expected, and may even be fatal.

Complications of Uloric Medicine

Uloric medicine has been connected with an increased risk of cardiac problems and even heart-related deaths like a heart attack.

When Uloric was first approved, the FDA required that Takeda conduct a clinical safety trial into the drug. The trial’s preliminary results are available, concluding that Uloric, when compared with the gout medication allopurinol, increases a patient’s risk of suffering from heart-related deaths like a heart attack. More than 6,000 gout patients were involved in the study.

According to an FDA statement, “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.”

As final results are collected and analyzed, the FDA warns that “[h]ealth care professionals should consider this safety information when deciding whether to prescribe or continue patients on febuxostat.”

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

Uloric Medicine Lawsuits

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 medicine from the government.

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