Disease of Rich Extends Its Pain to Middle Class

[babylonsister]

Disease of Rich Extends Its Pain to Middle Class

By ANDREW POLLACK
Published: June 12, 2009


Lonnie Matthews, a retired building maintenance engineer in Burlington, N.C., has something in common with King Henry VIII, Sir Isaac Newton and Benjamin Franklin. He has gout.

Often called the “disease of kings” because of its association with the rich foods and copious alcohol once available only to aristocrats, gout is staging a middle-class comeback as American society grows older and heavier.

The rising tide of gout — an extremely painful arthritis of the big toe and other joints — is leading the pharmaceutical industry to rediscover what it had considered a disease of the past. Companies are now racing to improve upon decades-old generic drugs that do not work well for everyone.

Already this year the Food and Drug Administration has approved the first new gout drug in more than 40 years, a product called Uloric from Takeda Pharmaceutical.

Another new drug, Krystexxa, made by Savient Pharmaceuticals of East Brunswick, N.J., will be reviewed for possible approval by an F.D.A. advisory committee on Tuesday.

And several other companies are testing drugs in clinical trials.

more...

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/13/health/13gout.html?ref=todayspaper

[Why Syzygy]

1. I bet they are.

Might as well try those "old generic" drugs before the new expensive ones...