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Two Drugs Show Promise Against Severe Constipation
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Page: << Prev | 1 | 2 And results of the prucalopride trial are just being published, even though the trial ended in 1999, Moss noted. "Its rather unusual for a study completed in 1999 to wait an additional nine years for publication, so I raised that point," he said.
Publication was delayed, because "in animal studies, toxicology showed an imbalance in the number of tumors," Camilleri said. The imbalance was seen in longer-term high doses" he said, so additional safety studies were needed before publication.
Another report in the same issue of the journal described a successful trial of a new drug to relieve the constipation experienced by very ill people given narcotic drugs to ease their pain.
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In the trial that included 133 people who have received such opioid painkillers for two or more weeks, 48 percent of those getting the drug, methylnaltrexone, had bowel movements within four hours of the first dose, compared to 15 percent of those getting a placebo. More than half of those given the drug had a bowel movement without the use of an additional laxative, compared to 8 percent of those in the placebo group.
The trial was one of two studies that led to approval of the drug, which is given by injection, by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration last month.
More information
Causes and treatment of constipation are described by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.
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Copyright © 2008 ScoutNews, LLC. All rights reserved.
Last updated 5/28/2008
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SOURCES: Michael Camilleri, M.D., professor, medicine and physiology, May Clinic, Rochester, Minn.; Arthur J. Moss, M.D., professor, medicine and physiology, University of Rochester, New York; May 29, 2008, New England Journal of Medicine
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