Entera Health, Inc. announced the publication of a study entitled “Serum-Derived Bovine Immunoglobulin/Protein Isolate Therapy for Patients with Refractory Irritable Bowel Syndrome” that reports the positive results obtained after oral administration of serum-derived bovine immunoglobulin/protein isolate in patients with irritable bowel syndrome who were unresponsive to therapeutics (referred to as refractory). The study was published in Open Journal of Gastroenterology.
In this retrospective study, 35 patients with diarrhea-predominant irritable bowel syndrome (IBS-D) or alternating between constipation and diarrhea (IBS-M), all refractory to current therapies who were treated with serum-derived bovine immunoglobulin/protein isolate (SBI) were reviewed twice a day for the duration of the study. From these participants, 26 patients performed a lactose breath test (LBT) and were included for further analysis. LBT is a non-invasive procedure that helps physicians to test for the presence of bacteria in the small Intestine, which is also associated with irritable bowel syndrome.
Patients within the positive LBT group (n=11) exhibited a 73% positive response to treatment with SBI, while LBT negative group (n=13) had a 77% positive response. The results were similar if standardization of patients was performed according to their IBS diagnosis or even if mixed with each other, with a response of 69% for patients with IBS-D; IBS-M patients exhibited a 88% positive response and when pooled together (n=24) the rate for a positive response to SBI was 75%. Thus, the authors concluded that SBI is an efficacious nutritional therapeutic for patients with both IBS-D or/and IBS-M. These results suggest that further studies of larger samples are required to confirm these benefits.
Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a common chronic gastrointestinal disorder characterized by cramping, abdominal pain, bloating, gas, diarrhea and constipation. Current therapeutics include fiber and antispasmodic medication, however, they ameliorate symptoms only and do not treat disease causes. Moreover, these traditional therapies offer mixed results in the IBS patient population. With these new findings, drug developers may be able to offer an alternative nutritional therapy that can provide a much-needed alternative to standard treatments.