“Not only is gout is one of the most painful types of arthritis, it can disfigure and damage joints if left untreated. Here’s what you need to know to make sure you are taking the best gout medications.”

Gout medication falls into two categories – drugs to relieve the pain and inflammation of an attack, and preventive gout medicine to ward off future attacks and avoid complications.
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When the American pharmaceutical company URL Pharma acquired the exclusive rights to manufacture a common gout drug that numerous other companies had been making for years, the price soared from 10¢ a pill to $5 a pill. What’s going on here?

Prescription colchicine is a pain reliever and anti-inflammatory derived from a crocus plant that has been in use since the 1800s. It’s primarily prescribed to treat gout, a painful form of arthritis, but is also an effective treatment for familial Mediterranean fever.

Over twenty different US pharmaceutical companies were manufacturing generic colchicine up until 2010. That’s when the FDA ordered them to stop manufacturing the gout drug within 45 days, and to stop shipping it within 90 days.
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