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OMEPRAZOLE: A NEW AND POWERFUL ANTI-ULCER DRUG.

Previous studies have shown that omeprazole is a more potent inhibitor of gastric acid secretion than the H2 blockers cimetidine and ranitidine. This study indicates that it also has greater clinical effectiveness.

In this prospective, double-blind trial involving 45 centers in 13 countries, 602 patients with benign gastric ulcers were treated with omeprazole or ranitidine for four or eight weeks and then followed with repeated endoscopic evaluations for six months. Treatment with either 20 or 40 mg of omeprazole daily or 150 mg of ranitidine twice a day was associated with endoscopically confirmed ulcer healing at four weeks in 69, 80, and 59 percent of the patients, respectively. Each of the omeprazole regimens was significantly better than ranitidine. During the six-month follow-up period (in which patients received none of the above medications), relapses of ulcer symptoms or endoscopically confirmed ulcers were significantly less frequent in the two omeprazole groups. Adverse drug reactions occurred at about the same frequency in the three treatment groups and were not severe. Omeprazole was also more effective than ranitidine at promoting ulcer healing in patients taking nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. Omeprazole seems likely to become an important antiulcer drug.

— ALK

Published in Journal Watch General Medicine January 20, 1989

Citation(s):

Walan A et al. Effect of omeprazole and ranitidine on ulcer healing and relapse rates in patients with benign gastric ulcer. N Engl J Med 1989 Jan 12 320 69 -75.

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