Background: Pantoprazole is a new substituted benzimidazole which is a potent inhibitor of gastric acid secretion by its action upon H+,K(+)-ATPase.
Aim: To compare pantoprazole 40 mg with omeprazole 20 mg as once daily dosing in the treatment of reflux oesophagitis (grades II and III).
Methods: This double-blind, randomized, multicentre study included 286 patients. Patients were reendoscoped after 4 weeks, and continued to receive a further 4 weeks of treatment if they were not healed at this time.
Results: After 4 weeks of treatment, complete healing occurred in 126/170 (74%) patients in the pantoprazole group and in 67/86 (78%) patients in the omeprazole group (per-protocol analysis). At 8 weeks, the corresponding healing rates were 153/170 (90%) and 81/86 (94%). The differences between the treatment groups were not significant (P = 0.57 and 0.34). Improvement in the principal symptoms of reflux oesophagitis was also very similar between the treatment groups, with 59% and 69% at 2 weeks, and 83% and 86% at 4 weeks, respectively, being free from any individual symptom. Both treatments were well tolerated.
Conclusions: This study has shown pantoprazole and omeprazole to be similarly effective and well tolerated in the treatment of mild to moderate reflux oesophagitis.