Future GERD therapies seek faster relief

Currently, the most effective drugs for gastroesophageal reflux disease take time to produce an effect and have to be taken long term.

By Victoria Stagg Elliott, AMNews staff. June 13, 2005.

Future gastroesophageal reflux disease therapies will attempt to provide immediate relief while addressing the condition's underlying mechanisms, according to a panel discussion at Digestive Disease Week, held last month in Chicago.

"We need new molecules to provide truly on-demand therapy," said Nimish Vakil, MD, one of the panelists and a clinical professor of medicine at the University of Wisconsin Medical School in Madison.

DDW is an annual joint meeting of the American Assn. for the Study of Liver Diseases, the American Gastroenterological Assn., the American Society of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy, and the Society for Surgery of the Alimentary Tract.

Experts predicted that these strategies could involve combining currently available proton pump inhibitors, which work over the long term but take a while to kick in, with older acid-suppression drugs that work immediately but don't last as long. Entirely new compounds that approach the problem from a different angle are also a possibility. Research presented at DDW suggested that acid pump antagonists and potassium-competitive acid blockers both have significant potential to further relieve patients' symptoms.

"In the next few years, we should have some very interesting agents to help our patients with acid-related disorders," said Dr. Vakil.

A new approach is necessary because, although evidence suggests that addressing the underlying mechanisms can result in a higher quality of life, many people fail to adhere to this therapy because they do not receive the immediate pay-off, according to the panelists.