Can colchicine be used to treat gout?

Colchicine can treat gout. It is the classic drug of choice for acute attacks of gout and can reduce joint pain and inflammation within a few hours of taking the drug. However, colchicine is only used as a pain medication during acute gout attacks. If you want to treat gout completely, you need to take uric acid-lowering medications in between gout attacks. Commonly used uric acid-lowering drugs include febuxostat, allopurinol and benzbromarone. Only when these uric acid-lowering drugs are applied between attacks to keep the blood uric acid level below 360 μmol/L can acute attacks of gout be prevented and reduced.