Is Anakinra A New Gout Medicine For Pain Management?

New gout medicine takes many forms.

Here I summarize an investigation into a medicine called anakinra (brand name Kineret), which is a drug used to treat rheumatoid arthritis.

This gout medicine report is a layman’s summary of an investigation into the treatment of gout using a rheumatoid arthritis medicine presented at the 2012 ACR meeting^[1].

Anakinra

Anakinra is a genetically engineered protein that inhibits one of the inflammation pathways in the body. As inflammation is at the heart of both rheumatoid arthritis and gout, then it makes sense to investigate if rheumatoid arthritis drugs can be used as gout medicine to help manage pain.

Gout Medicine Study: Background/Purpose

This is a follow-up study to provide more information about the experience of patients taking anakinra. It is mainly concerned with gout patients, but also includes one patient with pseudogout.

Gout Medicine Study: Methods

The authors studied 5 years medical records of gout and pseudogout patients who had taken anakinra. Data includes:

• Age
• Gender
• Body Mass Index (BMI)
• Additional health problems
• Uric acid level
• Joints and other tissues involved
• Anakinra dosage
• Time to start of improvement
• Time to complete pain and inflammation stopping
• Possible side effects

The side effects monitored were infection and low white blood cell count (leukopenia).

Gout Medicine Study: Results

The results cover 26 patients who received 40 courses of anakinra. 18 had failed to find adequate relief from colchicine and/or steroids, and 8 were not suitable for these treatments due to other health problems. None of the 26 were suitable for NSAIDs such as naproxen or ibuprofen.

Attacks affected more than one joint in 29 of the 40 episodes. Joints affected were:

1. 44.5%: Foot & ankle
2. 25.0%: Hand & wrist
3. 18.5%: Knees
4. 12.0%: Shoulders, elbows & tendons

67.5% of patients felt significant relief within 1 day, and 85% within 2 days. All signs and symptoms of gout stopped after 5 days in 72.5%. 7 patients had no benefit after 5 courses, and one showed no benefit at all.

No side effects were reported.

Gout Medicine Study: Conclusion

Anakinra is an effective and safe alternative treatment for acute gouty arthritis in medically complex patients who fail or cannot undergo more conventional therapy

Gout Medicine: Next Steps

If you get no benefit from colchicine, steroids, or NSAIDs, or other health conditions prevent their use, please discuss anakinra with your doctor.

Please share your experiences of anakinra in the Feedback Form below. Or ask any questions you may have, in the gout forum.

Anakinra Gout Medicine Feedback

GoutPal visitor responses include:

Any Anakinra for Gout Updates?

While we were discussing her husbands gout pain treatment options Denise asked if there were any updates to this page.

GoutPal Response

Here’s are some later studies about using anakinra for gout patients. I suggested that Denise’s husband should talk to his doctors about these.

1. A small hospital trial on 10 gout patients^[2]. Comparing anakinra with colchicine and corticosteroids.
2. A study of 88 gout patients^[3]. Comparing anakinra with colchicine, naproxen or prednisone. The study concluded: “Efficacy of anakinra was shown to be non-inferior to treatment as usual for the treatment of acute gout flares, suggesting that anakinra is an effective treatment alternative for acute gout flares.”

As anakinra is still not a common gout pain treatment I haven’t considered further investigation. But if you want me to do more research let me know on the Feedback Form below.

Leave Anakinra Gout Medicine to browse other gout medicine research.

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Anakinra Gout Medicine References

1. Bach, Mary, Jane Park, Pradipta Ghosh, Peter Simkin, and Gregory Gardner. “The Treatment of Acute Gouty Arthritis in Complex Hospitalized Patients with Anakinra.: 146.” Arthritis & Rheumatism 64 (2012).
2. Petite, Sarah E. “Effectiveness of anakinra in acute gout: a retrospective review of initial and refractory therapy.” Am J Ther 24, no. 5 (2017): e633-34.
3. Janssen, Carly A., Martijn AH Oude Voshaar, Harald E. Vonkeman, Tim L. Th A. Jansen, Matthijs Janssen, Marc R. Kok, Bea Radovits, Caroline van Durme, Hetty Baan, and Mart AFJ van de Laar. “Anakinra for the treatment of acute gout flares: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, active-comparator, non-inferiority trial.” Rheumatology 58, no. 8 (2019): 1344-1352.

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