Salix’s Xifaxan possible Crohn’s disease treatment

Xifaxan (rifaximin) is a gut selective, non-systemic, virtually non-absorbed (less than 0.4%) oral antibiotic currently approved for the treatment of travelers’ diarrhea caused by noninvasive strains of E.coli in patients 12 years of age and older.

Data from the 16-week open label study, led by Dr Ira Shafran, of the Shafran Gastroenterology Center, show that at the end of treatment with Xifaxan 78% of study participants had a greater than 70% improvement in Crohn’s Disease Activity Index (CDAI), and that 59% achieved clinical remission, defined as a CDAI score of less than 150.

CDAI scores of all participants at month four of treatment were reduced by an average of 43%. After one month of treatment, more than half of all patients had at least a 70-point reduction in CDAI score. At the end of months two, three and four of treatment, 78% to 82% of patients had at least a 70-point decrease in CDAI score. Clinical remission was observed at the end of treatment months one, two, three and four in 41%, 56%, 56% and 59% of patients, respectively.

“Results of this study of Xifaxan are encouraging news to the many people who suffer from this chronic illness, and warrant additional investigation,” commented Dr Shafran. “Furthermore, it lends credence to the theory that Crohn’s Disease is an abnormal response to the bacteria in the gastrointestinal tract, in which case the non-systemic, gut-selective properties of Xifaxan could potentially make it a suitable treatment.”