Nexium as NSAIDs new best friend?

ANN ARBOR, Mich., March 23 (UPI) -- A recent study of AstraZeneca's Nexium shows the drug reduces the risk of stomach ulcer in high-risk patients.

A pair of clinical trials by researchers at the University of Michigan suggested that Nexium cuts the stomach-ulcer risk in patients whose risk is high and who routinely take either non-selective nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) or COX-2-selective NSAIDs.

The researchers pooled data from the two six-month trials and found that "significantly fewer" patients taking Nexium in either a 20 mg or 40 mg dose -- in addition to their regular non-selective NSAID/COX-2-selective therapy -- developed an ulcer at six months, compared to those taking a placebo, or 5.2 percent and 4.6 percent, respectively, compared to 17 percent in the placebo group.

The Michigan researchers noted that they observed these benefits as early as the first month of the study, adding that the benefits lasted throughout the study.

"Paradoxically, NSAID use is common among patients at high risk for gastric ulcers or other complications associated with these medications. Although COX-2-selective drugs generally cause fewer gastric ulcers than non-selective NSAIDs, these events aren't completely eliminated, and the residual side-effect rate still may be high," said James Scheiman of the Division of Gastroenterology at the University of Michigan. "Data from the two trials showed that Nexium was effective in reducing stomach ulcers in at-risk patients who require chronic NSAID treatment," he said.