Celiac Pill?

[mimette]

My friend mentioned that her mom had celiac disease and that she had a pill she could take before eating. I looked online and it's called AT1001. From the articles I read it was experimental still but they were from 2007/08 I think. Does anyone know about this drug? Is on the market now? I was wondering if I could be a test patient if they were still looking for them.

[color-me-confused]

It looks like the company is still in clinical trials: Open Original Shared Link

They have completed a phase IIb trial which studies the efficacy of the drug although they don't appear to have released the results. And there's some stuff going on with another company:

Open Original Shared Link

and there's an article on this website:

https://www.celiac.com/articles/22050/1/Encouraging-New-Celiac-Disease-Drug/Page1.html

A new drug called Larazotide Acetate, has been called 'revolutionary' to the celiac and gluten sensitive community, and may be what celiacs need to live a more normal life. While it is not a cure, Larazotide Acetate has been proven in clinical trials to greatly reduce the negative reactions celiacs have with gluten. Clinical test patients displayed a decrease in intestinal damage, from 50% to 15%, when ingesting gluten after taking Larazotide Acetate.

and there's more news:

Open Original Shared Link

larazotide acetate (formerly AT1001), at an earlier stage of development, managed to capture $25 million up front in a potential $325 million ex-U.S. deal with Shire plc in 2007. Shire also was to have picked up half of the product's global development costs and shoulder its share of a Phase III program. (See BioWorld Today, Dec. 17, 2007.)

But the Shire partnership "was dissolved about a year ago," a Cephalon spokesperson told BioWorld Today.

No reason for the termination of that deal was given, but it could have stemmed from mixed Phase II data. Cephalon CEO Kevin Buchi told investors on the firm's earnings call that the earlier Phase II results had shown a "signal of efficacy" for Alba's drug, but the endpoint used might not have been adequate for use in celiac patients.

The new Phase IIb study, set to start this year, will use a different endpoint, he said, though he did not disclose what that endpoint might be.

I'd say it's not looking terribly promising.

[shadowicewolf]

being the paranoid person i am, i refuse to take anything 'experimental' and the like. Highly doubtful it does anything.

[WhenDee]

With it only improving things by 15-50%....

And knowing that EVERY MEDICATION has a side effect...

I wouldn't bother with it.

Before I went gluten-free I had vitamin deficiencies & frequent illness. Gluten was destroying my ability to absorb nutrition and it was KILLING me. Literally.

There isn't one thing in the world I want to put in my mouth so badly that I will risk all of that again. For only 50% improvement, at best? So my intestines would only be 50% destroyed? No way.

And I'm wondering how long before they discover the side effect is pancreatic cancer, or dementia, or your teeth falling out, or something equally fun.

[ravenwoodglass]

AT1001 is not in the market yet so I don't think that is what she is taking unless she is part of the study. There is a pill available in some health food stores that is supposed to help with gluten digestion. HOWEVER it says right on the bottle that it is not intended for use by people with celiac disease. It is early and I can't think of the name of it right now. It is not something that is really going to help us. I hope this person isn't taking it an thinking they can safely eat gluten.