Morrisville-based Salix Pharmaceuticals said two analyses of a Phase II clinical trial showed beneficial results for its antibiotic rifaximin in treating patients with diarrhea-predominant irritable bowel syndrome, or IBS.
Salix already markets rifaximin in the United States under the trade name XIFAXAN for the treatment of patients 12 or older with travelers' diarrhea caused by non-invasive strains of Escherichia coli bacteria.
Data presented at the annual meeting of the American College of Gastroenterology in Orlando showed that patients treated with rifaximin did statistically better with abdominal pain and bloating than those treated with a placebo.
"The latest findings, along with previously reported data, suggest a potential therapeutic role for rifaximin -- a non-absorbed and gut-selective antibiotic -- in patients with irritable bowel syndrome," said William Chey, M.D., professor of medicine in the Division of Gastroenterology at the University of Michigan, and director of the Gastrointestinal Physiology Laboratory at the University of Michigan Medical Center.