Three articles in this issue of The Journal (pp 763, 764, and 766) describe adverse reactions to ticrynafen. This agent, which held great promise for the treatment of high blood pressure while at the same time lowering serum uric acid levels, has not proved to be an unmixed blessing. Recently, the manufacturer, Smith Kline & French Laboratories, withdrew the drug from the market, because five persons died while they were taking the drug. These deaths may, of course, have been unrelated to the drug, and a careful reevaluation of ticrynafen by the company and the Food and Drug Administration may lead to its reintroduction. In any event physicians should be thoroughly familiar with the adverse effects of this agent should it be reintroduced, and, therefore, we are publishing the three reports on it that we have in hand.
Much has been written and said about phase IV trials of a