New Drug To Fight Fistulas…
“Ocera Therapeutics specializes in the development and commercialization of new drugs for gastrointestinal and liver diseases.
The company’s current product, AST-120, is a new treatment for use in fighting the formation of fistulas in Crohn’s disease, a form of inflammatory bowel syndrome that afflicts more than 500,000 people in this country. Fistulas are abnormal passages that can open up between the stomach, for example, and the body’s surface.”
What’s really neat is how this drug works…
“Fischer said. “It’s composed of orally delivered absorbent carbon microspheres that travel through the GI tract, absorb a number of toxins that are involved in Crohn’s disease, and as a result decrease the number of fistulas.”
Fischer says AST-120 has fewer side effects than existing drug treatments for Crohn’s disease, which expose patients to the risk of TB infections and, for a small number of patients, a rare type of lymphoma.”
I am really intrigued by the fact that this drug seems to be a VERY light drug. And given my massive problems with fistulas (and that being the main reason they keep delaying my iliostomy removal)…
I’m looking forward to seeing where this goes!
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