 Febuxostat was discovered by scientists at the Japanese pharmaceutical company Teijin in 1998.Teijin partnered the drug with TAP Pharmaceuticals in the US and Ipsen in Europe.Ipsen obtained marketing approval for febuxostat from the European Medicines Agency in April 2008, Takeda obtained FDA approval in February 2009, and Teijin obtained approval from the Japanese authorities in 2011.