Why All the Hate for Celiac Disease Drug Treatments?

I think distrust of the scientific community is markedly high among sufferers of CD—particularly those who continue to have symptoms or attendant disorders. Naturally, we see a lot of folks seeking solace and support on this site and its forum.

To whit: lots of naturopathic remedies and suspicions about cross-reactivity, widespread candidiasis, etc. Generally spurious cures and conditions that are not well researched or proven. Yet these drug trials are trying to become as researched and proven as possible!

Part of the distrust is perhaps due to the fact that treatment and/or resolution is not always achieved with GI doctors, and frustration ensues among patient and physician.

If folks don't trust the drugs, they shouldn't use them. I hope the opinions expressed here don't hinder the research. However I suspect the ratio of "would try" to "no way" swings heavily to the former; we just see a skewed representation here among the poor folks still suffering.

This article misses the bigger question that I have. What if I forget to take my pills like people frequently do who have lactose intolerance? I frequently forget, or have run out.

We are playing with something pretty dangerous here, and there are people who have silent damage who would not know.

Cure it great, control it, big worries.

I think what gets me started yelling "Noooo!" is the suggestion that I might make myself sick by eating gluten so that they can test their treatment. I just can't be altruistic about that.

They can develop a drug for celiacs but when I listen to the side effects of the drugs for other immune disorders that can't be cured by diet, I find it unlikely that I would take a similar drug. Turning off your immune system, IMO, seems like a supremely bad idea... especially when celiac can be controlled by diet.

You should think about doing an article on why people have come to distrust pharmaceutical companies. Maybe that is part of the reason people are hesitant to embrace the search for a celiac drug cure. It's a shame that your article pokes fun at dissenting comments by saying "we hope you enjoyed them as much as we did". Celiecs should try to be understanding of where each other are coming from or we will become a divided group with less of a voice. I'd hope for more from the writers at celiac.com, who should try to exhibit a neutral stance to encourage conversation and make commenters with varied opinions feel welcome.

I do not need a drug to "cure" my celiac disease, I eat a gluten free diet and I am fine. However I would like to see our agriculture department make changes to the processing of our corn, wheat and I think a lot of people would feel better. But there is no money to be made for big business, therefore we have to bear the burden of many diseases that could be avoided.

Read Dr. Brownstein's article about a new diabetes drug on his blog, and you'll start to understand how scientists lie about pharmaceuticals.

Search for "America's Most Admired Lawbreaker" and read the series of articles on Huffington Post and all of the comments, so that you understand the greed and disregard for patients that exists in pharmaceutical corporations.

Although I'm not a fan of "the Donald", I have to complement him on speaking out about vaccine injury in the last debate. It is we who suffer the most autoimmunity who have the strongest and most sensitive and reactive immune systems, and thus are most vulnerable to gut and brain damage that results in autism spectrum disorders. Our genes are much older than the cultivation of wheat. Read Sayer Ji's essay "The Dark Side of Wheat". With Dr. Alessio Fasano's and other researchers' discoveries that no human has the enzymes to break gliadin, glutenin and other toxic grain proteins down into usable amino acids, that wheat germ agglutenin attaches to everyone's cartilage and crosses everyone's blood brain barrier, and that there are over 23,000 proteins in modern bread wheat, that it has the complete genome of three different grasses, resulting in a genome that is larger than our own, and Columbia University Celiac Center has discovered five more classes of proteins that celiacs react to, and Dr. Fine's research showing that only 1% of American's do not have a gluten sensitivity HLA-DQ gene, I think we need to be thinking about our role as the canaries in the coal mine, rather than following the USDA recommendations. Read the book "Death By Food Pyramid".

Why accuse Pharma companies of just trying to make money off celiacs? Yes, a gluten free diet is healthier by far, but look at the prices we have to pay for gluten free products. Why are the prices so high when the ingredients are rice flour and tapioca starch, both very inexpensive!!! Whose trying to make money and gouge people???

Thank you for bringing this up. Last I checked, if you live in America, you can choose to take the new drugs or not take them. I personally will keep my choice to myself and not try to influence others to think like me. I don't really have time to do that. My body, my choice--your body, your choice. Take care of yourself the way you see fit.

The negative comments must come from people who do not travel and probably prepare their food at home. I do not know of any restaurants that serve gluten free breakfasts, only one local restaurant that serves gluten free lunches, and a limited number where gluten free dinners are served. Mostly those are pizza or steak restaurants. Desserts other than vanilla ice cream are rare. It is impractical to find gluten-free restaurants on a long automobile trip.