Drug Combats Bowel Disease
A drug used in organ transplants appears of benefit in treating a debilitating bowel condition known as Crohn’s disease when conventional therapy has failed, a group of Danish researchers report.
“We conclude that cyclosporine has a beneficial therapeutic effect in patients with active Crohn’s disease and resistance to or intolerance of corticosteroids,” the synthetic hormones used in the conventional treatment, the scientists wrote in the New England Journal of Medicine.
Cyclosporine is used in organ transplants to suppress the body’s disease-fighting immune system, which otherwise would cause the body to reject the transplant. It is widely licensed for sale throughout the world.
Crohn’s disease, a condition of unknown origin that causes severe discomfort and can lead to death, typically strikes the wall of the upper bowel, inflaming the tissue and in severe cases eating away at the bowel wall until it becomes perforated.
The Danish researchers, affiliated with the C. Herlev University Hospital and the State University Hospital in Copenhagen, said 22 of the 37 patients in their trial treated with cyclosporine showed improvement, compared to only 11 of the 34 patients given a sugar pill. Further, those patients who benefited showed improvement within just two weeks, compared to the three to four months’ wait typical for the conventional therapy.
