CAMBRIDGE — Local labs are working to develop treatments for neurological disorders, multiple forms of cancer, and dozens of rare genetic diseases. But the next potential blockbuster drug to emerge from the Boston area may target a less fearsome condition that nonetheless afflicts 30 million to 40 million Americans: irritable bowel syndrome.
Within the next few weeks, the Food and Drug Administration will decide whether an experimental drug called linaclotide can be approved for sale in the United States. If the FDA signs off on it, the drug would bring a new treatment option to people suffering from abdominal pain, bloating, and eating limitations as a result of irritable bowel syndrome — known as IBS — as well as chronic constipation. It would also catapult linaclotide’s maker, 14-year-old Ironwood Pharmaceuticals Inc., into the elite club of the area’s commercial drug companies.
Comments
Lots of talk about the company, very little information about the drug. The obvious question to be answered is: does it cure the condition or meerly string the patient along a pill a day? Very poor reporting.
"But there haven't been a lot of new therapies that have come out for IBS. Sometimes the science lags behind our understanding of the condition." Bravo to the MD for keeping an open mind & thinking outside the box! Too bad this sentiment isn't shared by MDs for other difficult/divisive conditions like Lyme & Tick Born infections...
Interesting how for some, simple, inexpensive, otc, high count Acidophilus can be the panacea for IBS. A GI MD suggested it, too.