Phenylbutazone
chemical compound
Phenylbutazone, often referred to as "bute", is a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) for the short-term treatment of pain and fever in animals.
In the United States and United Kingdom, it is no longer approved for human use (except in the United Kingdom for ankylosing spondylitis), as it can cause severe adverse effects such as suppression of white blood cell production and aplastic anemia. This drug was implicated in the 2013 meat adulteration scandal. Positive phenylbutazone tests in horse meat were uncommon in the UK, however.
Uses
In humans
Phenylbutazone was originally made available for use in humans for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis and gout in 1949. However, it is no longer approved, and therefore not marketed, for any human use in the United States. In the UK it is used to treat ankylosing spondylitis, but only when other therapies are unsuitable.
In horses
Phenylbutazone is the most commonly used NSAID for horses in the United States. It is used for the following purposes:
Analgesia: It is used for pain relief from infections and musculoskeletal disorders, including sprains, overuse injuries, tendinitis, arthralgias, arthritis, and laminitis. Like other NSAIDs, it acts directly on musculoskeletal tissue to control inflammation, thereby reducing secondary inflammatory damage, alleviating pain, and restoring range of motion.
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Datasets, specimens, observations and peer-reviewed methods provide the appropriate test for the technical claims summarized here. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 7, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q421342. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 2013 and 1949.
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This entry incorporates text from “Phenylbutazone” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.