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Biotech / Medical : Merck -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: George Dawson who wrote (619)	3/11/1998 9:44:00 PM
From: LWolf	Respond to of 1580

Here's more on Losec Subject: Reuters:(MRK)-Losec found effective against stomach ulcers Losec found effective against stomach ulcers BOSTON, March 11 (Reuters) - The stomach ulcer treatment Losec is more effective in treating ulcers in arthritis sufferers than two competing medications, researchers report in Thursday's New England Journal of Medicine. Separate research teams found the drug omeprazole, better known as Losec, was more effective at healing ulcers or ulcer-like erosions than either ranitidine, also known as Zantac, or misoprostol, in arthritis sufferers. Losec worked even when the volunteers continued to take their aspirin-like medicines for arthritis, known as nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs or NSAIDs. The findings are important because many arthritis sufferers must take NSAIDs, which can damage the stomach. Between 20 and 30 percent of people who regularly use NSAIDs have a stomach ulcer. Doctors have recently found that a bacterium, Helicobacter pylori, causes most ulcers, which can we worsened by NSAIDS. A joint venture between Swedish pharmaceutical giant Astra AB and New Jersey-based Merck & Co <ASTRa.ST> <MRK.N> Astra Merck Inc makes Losec, sold in the United States under the brand name Prilosec. British-based Glaxo Wellcome Plc <GLXO.L> makes Zantac. Searle, a unit of Monsanto Co <MTC.N>, makes misoprostol, sold under the brand Cytotec. The comparison between omeprazole and ranitidine was conducted by an international team that gave itself the whimsical acronym ASTRONAUT (Acid Suppression Trial; Ranitidine versus Omeprazole for NSAID-Associated Ulcer Treatment). The "astronauts," led by Dr. Neville Yeomans of the University of Melbourne, gave one drug or the other to 541 volunteers suffering from arthritis who had either an ulcer or more than 10 ulcer-like erosions. The healing rate after eight weeks was about 80 percent in those taking omeprazole compared to 63 percent among the group who took ranitidine. After six months, 72 percent in the Losec group remained healed, versus 59 percent of the Zantac recipients. The second study, with the acronym OMNIUM (for omeprazole versus misoprostol for NSAID-Induced Ulcer Management) found that the eight-week cure rate among omeprazole recipients was 75 percent compared to 71 percent in the people who got misoprostol. After six months, 61 percent in the omeprazole group remained ulcer-free compared to 48 percent of those getting misoprostol. The OMNIUM researchers, led by Dr. Christopher Hawkey, from University Hospital in Nottingham, United Kingdom, also found that omeprazole produced fewer side effects than misoprostol, which can cause diarrhea and abdominal pain. REUTERS ***************** Laura