The gluten free diet (no wheat, barley, rye) is the only treatment for celiac disease. But many companies and researchers are investigating and doing clinical trials for different treatments for people diagnosed with celiac disease.
In the last few days Joseph Murray, M.D. from the Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology at the Mayo Clinic offered an update on the testing of larazotide acetate. Murray is quoted in Gastroenterology and Endoscopy News‘ report that the latest clinical trial findings showed “significant symptom reduction in celiac disease”.
Larazotide acetate is being created and tested by Alba Therapeutics. The drug would be a treatment to help lessen symptoms of celiac when accidental gluten ingestion happens. It is not a vaccine nor a cure, but rather more of a maintenance treatment to coincide with the gluten-free diet.
When tight junctions in the small intestine are compromised, as they would be in someone with undiagnosed celiac disease, it allows gluten to seep through and cause the autoimmune response. The new results in the testing showed Larazotide is closing up those tight junctions, thus reducing the damage to a person who may have accidentally ingested gluten.
The article explained that a 0.5 mg dose three times a day improved diarrhea, indigestion, abdominal pain, headache and tiredness. In fact the report says the drug “increased the proportion of patients who reported no or very few symptoms by 31%”. The report also indicated that there was a 26% reduction of days with severe celiac symptoms, compared to the placebo group.
The one primary unknown for researchers right now is why increasing the dosage doesn’t increase benefit.
Again, this therapeutic option is still in the trial phase. Funding for this study was provided by Alba Therapeutics. If you would like to read the full story, you can access the Gastroenterology & Endoscopy News article here.
Tags: celiac, disease, drug, free, gluten, gluten-free, pill, research, therapy, treatment
October 8th, 2014 at 12:26 pm
Thanks for your articles!
Do you have any info on NYC restaurants that are gluten free?
We are trying to travel from Boston to Disney by train and came across your site the 1st few minutes of trying to plan. This will NOT be easy! 🙁 Can really add stress to the vacay, but better to plan ahead. I know we will be totally accommodated once in Disney but it will be getting there on a long train ride and the first agent Italked to said Amtrak does NOT have any GF food accommodation. So I was wondering what might be available at Penn Station?
BTW We own several small pizza restaurants in the Boston area and serve an delicious artisan GF pizza. If you are ever in town, try Ernestos North End Pizza. (We are across from LEGOLAND in Assembly Row Somerville – 5 mins from downtown Boston or 1 stop By Orange Line T)
Thanks!! Let me know if you know anything about Penn Station 🙂
October 10th, 2014 at 8:20 am
Hey there! Thanks for your comment and question. I don’t know first hand about Penn Station, but my friend in the blogosphere, Erin at http://glutenfreefun.blogspot.com/, just might! She is a New Yorker with celiac who has been doing GF in that area for decades. A quick email to her might garner you a quick and info-filled response. She has another site that is more travel oriented: http://glutenfreeglobetrotter.com/ perhaps there is info on there? I am sure she can help. Also, have you tried the Find Me Gluten Free App or website: http://www.findmeglutenfree.com/? You might find that resource helpful as well. Best of luck! Sounds like a super fun trip!! 🙂