SCIENCE / MEDICINE : Gout Drug Aids Cirrhosis

Colchicine, a drug used for treating gout, has also significantly extended the lives of cirrhosis victims and even reversed the dangerous liver disease, researchers working in Mexico told a meeting of specialists in Chicago last week.

Researchers said 75% of patients who received the oral medication were alive five years later, compared to 34% of those who received a control substance. Ten years into the study, 56% of those taking the drug were alive compared to 20% of the control group, they said.