02/13/2012    

RESPONSES / COMMENTS (CLINICAL) - PART 2

RE: The Use of Uloric vs. Allopurinol in the Management of Gout (Jeffrey Kass, DPM)

From: Elliot Udell, DPM

The problem with colchicine is a loophole in the law that enabled a private drug company to do research and patent a drug that has been on the market for ages. The same law enabled them to take generic colchicine off of the market. Shame on the FDA.

 

Drug plans take the path of least payment. When colchicine went from less than a dime per tablet to close to ten dollars a tablet for brand name Colcrys, the companies started dropping it in favor of uric-acid lowering drugs and NSAIDs. This alone should change the way we as podiatrists view the treatment of acute and chronic pedal gout. We need to revisit our injection techniques as well as the use of newer and less toxic NSAIDs. We need to take a fresh look at the use of allopurinol and Uloric as part of the podiatric armamentarium in the management of this extremely painful and disabling condition that we see so frequently.

 

Elliot Udell, DPM, Hicksville, NY, Elliotu@aol.com