Arthritis is one of the most common chronic conditions in the world. There are over two hundred different types of arthritis and each effect the joints causing a loss of mobility, chronic pain and potentially deformity. Due to arthritis’ prevalence throughout the world a great deal of time, effort and money has been put into researching and developing new ways of treating the condition. Despite all of the resources poured into it, arthritis remains chronic and incurable and due to the vast array of different kinds of arthritis it’s unlikely that we’ll ever see a cure in our lifetimes.
Gout is a very common form of arthritis in which the kidneys fail to filter all of the uric acid from the blood. This acid then leaves deposits of uric crystals in the blood, these cause irritation and inflammation which then goes on to bring about the general symptoms of arthritis (pain, loss of mobility etc.).Gout is most commonly caused by a rich diet in which the patient consumes a large amount of alcohol and due to this it was once known as the ‘the disease of kings’. Due to the relative cheapness and availability of certain foods nowadays gout is suffered by a great deal more than simply the rich!
In a recent trial a drug called rilonacept, which is an interleukin blocker, was tested to see its effectiveness in treating the symptoms of gout. Theoretically it was supposed to help rude the instance of gout flare ups which patients were going through urate lowering treatments. Though there was thought to be a lot of potential here, rilonacept showed little or no additional benefits to patients than more standard treatments did.
These trials were phase three so fairly far along. It’s likely that several more will have to be started to make sure the information gained was accurate before dropping this drug entirely.
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