From the ArcaMax Publishing, Health & Fitness Newsletter:
http://www.arcamax.com/news/healthtips/s-564442-387446
SAN DIEGO (UPI) -- Pharmaceutical companies are working on new
medications for gout as experts say up to six million U.S. residents
may have the disease.
The New York Times said Saturday that a new gout medication was
approved by the Food and Drug Administration this year for the first
time in more than four decades.
Ardea Biosciences chief executive Barry Quart, whose San Diego company
is attempting to create similar gout medications, said the extremely
painful affliction has essentially become forgotten in the medical
world.
"It's kind of like the forgotten disease," he told the Times.
But studies indicate the number of gout cases nationwide may have
doubled during the last 30 years. The disease typically strikes older
individuals and is up to four times more common in men than women.
The Times said gout begins with occasional painful attacks but the
attacks increase in frequency as the disease begins to create
crystallized deposits called tophi that can be disabling.