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Pegloticase is the name of a new drug made by Savient Pharmaceuticals which maybe the next big treatment for people with gout.
In a phase III study of the drug, results were very promising as all participants saw their uric acid levels returning to normal levels after taking it via infusion.
The drug works by replacing a blood enzyme which is missing in people who have gout.
“There hasn’t been a new drug for gout in the U.S. for over 40 years,” Dr. John Sundy, a rheumatologist at Duke University Medical Center in North Carolina, who led the study, said in a statement.
Gout is a condition known as a metabolic disorder which is characterized by excess uric acid in the bloodstream. It causes crippling joint pain.
“While most gout patients do well with the drug allopurinol, there is a subset of about 50,000 patients in the U.S. who don’t respond to it or who can’t tolerate it and who have no real alternatives. These are the patients who might benefit from a new therapeutic option,” Sundy added.
The study was presented at a meeting in San Francisco of the American College of Rheumatology.
