Falk Gastro Info 1/2023

The intestinal adsorbent enterosgel for the treatment of irritable bowel syndrome with diarrhea (IBS-D):Enterosgel was safe and effective in IBS-D in a randomized placebo-controlled trial involving 440 patients and may provide an alternative to the limited current treatment options for IBS-D.

Fecal microbiota transfer (FMT) with anti-inflammatory diet to treat ulcerative colitis: Multidonor FMT with anti-inflammatory diet effectively induced deep remission in mild-to-moderate ulcerative colitis which was sustained with anti-inflammatory diet alone over 1 year.

Drug pipeline for chronic hepatitis B: Antisense oligonucleotide bepiroviruses leads to impressive reduction of HBsAg and HBV-DNA. In a recent phase 2b study, 9–10% of participants achieved sustained HBsAg and HBV DNA loss after just 24 weeks of therapy.

Identification of patients with severe acute autoimmune hepatitis who do not respond to steroids and need urgent liver transplantation. Severe acute autoimmune hepatitis remains a critical situation as some patients do not respond to steroids and thus require urgent liver transplantation. A recent study identifies two scores that predict early which patients will not respond to steroids and therefore need urgent liver transplantation.

Meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials of albumin administration in cirrhosis with ascites: no reduction in mortality, but risk of pulmonary edema. Albumin administration in patients with cirrhosis and ascites is discussed controversially due to contradictory study results. A recent meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials concludes that albumin administration cannot reduce mortality, but is associated with the risk of pulmonary edema.

Efficacy of Latiglutenase in patients with celiac disease exposed to a gluten challenge: G-In this phase 2 trial, latiglutenase (IMGX003) reduced gluten-induced intestinal mucosa damage and symptom severity as compared to placebo.