FAST (Febuxostat versus Allopurinol Streamlined Trial) is a major multicentre clinical trial evaluating long term cardiovascular safety of febuxostat in comparison with allopurinol in patients with chronic symptomatic hyperuricaemia (gout). This is a very simple study, with a very low workload for participating practices.

So far, more than 50 practices in the West Midlands are taking part, and patient recruitment has commenced. Thank you so much to those of you who are on board, and we look forward to expanding this exciting trial to any other practices who may be interested.

Would your practice be interested in helping us with this important study?

Participating practices will receive a £500 fee for completing the database search, in addition to £5 per month per patient for the duration of the trial. All medication will be prescribed by the trial sponsor, and so there will be no prescribing costs to GP practices.

The Trial Manager is Jen Dumbleton, and her contact details are as follows, email: jennifer.dumbleton@nottingham.ac.uk, phone: 0115 823 1053. Further details can also be found on the trial website: www.fast-study.co.uk.