Zyloprim Blog

40-Year-Old Gout Drug Shows Promise Against Angina

Posted 8 Jun 2010 by Drugs.com

MONDAY, June 7 – A new British study suggests that a standard treatment for gout, already in use for four decades, could be an effective and less expensive alternative to conventional drugs targeting chronic stable angina. Following work with 65 heart disease patients between the ages of 18 and 85, the research team noted that six weeks of high doses (600 milligrams per day) of the gout drug allopurinol appeared to curtail the activity of a particular enzyme called xanthine oxidase, and in so doing cut back on the amount of energy the heart needs to exert whenever it beats. Exercise tests further revealed that allopurinol enabled the angina patients to get more oxygen to heart tissue plagued by blood and oxygen deprivation due to the arterial narrowing that characterizes coronary heart disease. Without treatment, this oxygen supply issue – called ischaemia – often leads to the onset ... Read more

Related support groups: Allopurinol, Angina, Zyloprim, Lopurin, Aloprim