Incentives for Drug Development — The Curious Case of Colchicine

In July 2009, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) officially announced what physicians have long known — that the drug colchicine can effectively treat acute flares of gouty arthritis. The plant from which colchicine is derived was first used as a therapeutic agent for gout more than 3000 years ago in ancient Greece, and the tablet form has been widely available as a generic prescription drug in the United States since the 19th century. On the basis of evidence that had built up over the years, numerous consensus guidelines recommended colchicine as an effective second-line treatment for gout — for . . .