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McMaster Textbook of Internal Medicine

Febuxostat in the treatment of chronic gout

2018-02-07
George Nuki

What is the current role of febuxostat in the treatment of chronic gout?

George Nuki: The American guidelines suggest that allopurinol and febuxostat should be equally considered for first-line therapy. The European and British guidelines do not because they take into account the cost-effectiveness and the cost of these. Febuxostat, to put it shortly, has become a generic drug, so things may change in that case. But at the moment the European recommendation is that febuxostat should be used if people cannot be adequately controlled with allopurinol or if they have hypersensitivity problems to it.

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