According to a retrospective analysis conducted by the scientists of Nanjing First Hospital and Changzhou traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital, China, among patients with low SUA levels, it was observed that one-year treatment of Febuxostat nearly abolished the gout flares and improved renal function. The dual-energy computerized tomography (DECT) analysis showed that tophi resolved markedly when compared with the baseline. Moreover, it was notable that only a few subjects experienced adverse events.

This retrospective analysis was conducted from October 2015 to September 2016 among patients with low SUA levels to evaluate the efficacy and safety of febuxostat.  A total of 39 patients who met the 2015 Gout Classification Criteria revised by American College of Rheumatology/European League Against Rheumatism (ACR/EULAR) were enrolled from the outpatient and emergency department. The urate deposition around the joints was detected by DECT analysis. The Febuxostat was administered to control SUA levels from 5.0 and 7.0 mg/dl to 3.0 and 5.0 mg/dl during a year. After getting an initial febuxostat treatment for two months, three out of thirty-nine participants were rejected because of adverse events (AEs).

The SUA levels decreases by 34.8% and mean SUA level was reduced from 6.51 ± 0.28 mg/dl to 4.24 ± 0.38 mg/dl. The volume of tophus was also reduced by 62.8%. The incidence of gout flares started to decrease markedly after the two months of treatment and completely stopped after one year. Eight gout patients with chronic kidney diseases exhibited a stepwise reduction of serum creatinine levels from 162.5 ± 9.2 μmol/l to 131.4 ± 11.0 μmol/l. The renal function got improved, and SAU levels decreased considerably after one year of the treatment. Adverse events were noticed in very few subjects. All these findings explain a meaningful impact of Febuxostat on gout patients.