In the News: Tuhina Neogi in RheumNow

The antidiabetic medication canagliflozin (Invokana) lowered serum urate and reduced the risk of gout flare in a post-hoc analysis of data from two large clinical trials.

In the CANVAS clinical trial program, which was funded by Janssen Research & Development and included more than 10,000 patients, the percentage difference in serum urate reduction with canagliflozin versus placebo was 6.7% (95% CI -7.3 to -6.1), according to Bruce Neal, MBChB, PhD, of the University of Sydney in Australia, and colleagues.

In addition, the likelihood of a gout flare or the initiation of treatment for gout was halved in patients treated with canagliflozin, with a hazard ratio of 0.53 (95% CI 0.40 to 0.71, P<0.0001), the researchers reported online in The Lancet Rheumatology.

“This agent appears to show potential for being a dual-benefit gout therapy, lowering serum urate and providing potential flare prophylaxis and thereby potentially reducing the need for separate flare prophylaxis with agents that are often contraindicated or poorly tolerated in patients with gout,” wrote Tuhina Neogi, MD, PhD, chief of rheumatology at Boston University School of Medicine, in an accompanying comment.