Parenteral gold compounds are usually successful in the treatment of patients with rheumatoid arthritis, but renal complications such as transient proteinuria and nephrotic syndrome (affecting 10% to 31% and 0.2% to 2.6% of patients, respectively) sometimes force discontinuation of the treatment (1, 2).
Auronafin (Smith Kline & French Laboratories, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania), an oral preparation containing gold (2, 3, 4, 6 tetra-O-acetyl-l-thio-B-D-glucopyranosato-s) (triethyl phosphine) has been proposed to be as effective as the injectable compounds with the additional advantage of being almost free from side effects; microscopic haematuria and proteinuria have occurred rarely. (Smith Kline & French Laboratories; data on file.)