SAVIENT'S PURICASE SHOWN TO HELP TREATMENT-RESISTANT GOUT

Savient Pharmaceuticals has reported that patients with elevated blood uric acid levels and treatment-resistant gout who were treated with its investigational drug Puricase (PEG-uricase) had substantial and sustained reduction in plasma urate levels. In addition, two case studies from the Phase II open-label trial show anecdotal photographic evidence that treatment with Puricase unexpectedly resolved tophi, the nodular deposits of urate that can cause pain, local ulceration, disfigurement and joint destruction.

Puricase is a polyethylene glycol conjugate of recombinant porcine uricase (urate oxidase) for the treatment of patients with severe gout for whom conventional therapy is contraindicated or has been ineffective. The company expects to initiate a Phase III clinical testing program during the first quarter of 2006.