The drug Uloric has come under fire in recent years due to analyses from the Food and Drug Administration about the heightened risk of death. A new study published in March reported a higher risk of death associated with the drug Uloric and gout patients who had heart disease.

In February, the FDA announced that the drug Uloric would now be required to have a black box warning attached to the packaging about the higher risk of death with Febuxostat when compared with alternative medication, allopurinol.

What Are the Heart Problem Symptoms to Be Aware Of?

Any patient who is currently taking Uloric should get emergency medical attention if they begin to experience any of the following symptoms while taking the drug:

• Difficulty talking
• Shortness of breath
• Chest pain
• Weakness or numbness on one side of the body
• Irregular or rapid heart beat
• Sudden and severe headache

The FDA recommends that Uloric should only be used with patients who do not tolerate Allopurinol or have previously failed in using that drug.

A black box warning is added to the side of medications that carry a potentially high risk for patients. The black box warning is the most prominent one, which draws attention to Uloric heart risks.  The FDA will also updating the new patient medication guide.

Healthcare professionals are advised to counsel patients about the possible cardiovascular risks of using Uloric. In 2009, the FDA originally approved Uloric to treat adult patients who had gout. Gout is a chronic diseases impacts over 8 million people across the United States and only a few medicines are on the market that are available to treat it.

Unfortunately, as more adverse event reports were filed with the Food and Drug Administration, the agency became interested in the outcomes of studies indicating that there was a higher chance of severe heart problems or even a potential risk of death for Uloric users, leading to the Uloric black box warning.

What Is Gout?

Gout occurs when a naturally occurring substance in the body known as uric acid builds up inside the patient and causes sudden attacks of swelling, redness and pain in one or more joints. Uloric works by lowering the patient’s uric acid levels.

However, some Uloric using patients with heart conditions say the drug additionally increases their risk of serious and life threatening heart issues. Studies and the new black box warning support these concerns.

Those Uloric patients who have already suffered a heart attack or who have lost a loved one as a result of taking Uloric should speak to an experienced defective drug lawyer about the possibility of taking legal action. Defective drug lawsuits aim to hold the manufacturers of medications accountable for failure to warn.

Some patients have already considered the option of bringing legal action against manufacturers, claiming that companies have not done enough to minimize risks or to warn users about the possibility of problems.