FDA approves Takeda's chronic hyperuricemia drug

OSAKA, Japan The Food and Drug Administration has approved a new drug from Takeda for treating chronic hyperuricemia in patients with gout, the Japanese drug maker and its North American subsidiary announced last week.

Takeda said Friday that the FDA had approved Uloric (febuxostat) in the 40-mg and 80-mg strengths. It said the once-daily pill is the first new treatment option in more than 40 years for the condition. Tokyo-based Teijin Pharma discovered the drug and licensed it to Takeda for the United States market.

"The approval of Uloric offers clinicians and their patients who have hyperuricemia associated with gout a new treatment option that helps prevent uric acid production," Takeda Global Research & Development Center Inc., U.S. president Nancy Joseph-Ridge said in a statement. "In the years that we've dedicated to studying patients who have gout, I know that many patients go to their doctor during a flare not understanding that gout is a chronic disease that needs to be managed on a long-term, daily basis."