Acid-related diseases such as
gastro-oesophageal reflux disease (GORD) and
peptic ulcer are a common cause of morbidity and if inadequately treated can lead to serious complications. The
proton-pump inhibitor rabeprazole has been extensively evaluated in well-controlled trials in North America and Europe for the acute treatment of erosive or ulcerative GORD and gastric and
duodenal ulcers and for the long-term maintenance of GORD healing. The results show that
rabeprazole has a favourable benefit/risk profile for each indication.
Rabeprazole 10 and 20 mg given once daily in the morning was highly effective in producing and maintaining healing, providing symptom relief, and improving overall well-being. Healing rates for
rabeprazole were equivalent to
omeprazole in all indications, and superior (GORD healing and
duodenal ulcer healing) or equivalent (
gastric ulcer healing) to the
histamine 2-receptor antagonist
ranitidine. Symptom relief provided by
rabeprazole was equivalent or superior to comparator drugs.
Rabeprazole was well tolerated in both short- and long-term studies. The incidence of treatment-emergent signs and symptoms related to
rabeprazole was low, and these were generally mild or moderate in severity. The overall rate of discontinuations due to adverse events was approximately 3%. There were no deaths related to
rabeprazole therapy. These findings indicate a favourable benefit/risk profile for each intended use.