Two novel drug treatments show promise against gout and colitis, painful conditions that plague millions of people worldwide.Febuxostat, which is awaiting approval from U.S. regulators, would be the first new medicine in four decades for gout, which is becoming more common in this country. Gout has long been associated with rich diets, and afflicted such figures in history as Benjamin Franklin, Henry VIII and Alfred Lord Tennyson.Infliximab, sold under the brand name Remicade for arthritis and Crohn’s disease, was shown to sharply reduce bloody diarrhea, abdominal cramps and other symptoms of ulcerative colitis, another immune system disorder that erodes the large intestine.The studies were reported in today’s New England Journal of Medicine.
