Background: One-week proton pump inhibitor-based triple therapies are very popular in the US despite limited US data documenting efficacy. We assessed 1-week proton pump inhibitor triple therapies for Helicobacter pylori, and compared them to dual antibiotic therapies (to assess benefit of omeprazole) and to omeprazole-amoxycillin (to assess benefit of clarithromycin) in a large, randomized, US multicentre study.
Methods: Healthy subjects who were H. pylori-positive by rapid serological test and 13C-urea breath test were randomly assigned to (i) omeprazole (O) 20 mg b.d. + amoxycillin (A) 1 g t.d.s. for 14 days (OA); (ii) A 1 g b.d. + clarithromycin (C) 500 mg b.d. for 7 days (AC); (iii) C 250 mg b.d. + metronidazole (M) 500 mg b.d. for 7 days (CM); (iv) O 20 mg b.d. + C 250 mg b.d. + M 500 mg b.d. for 7 days (MOC); or (v) O 20 mg b.d. + C 500 mg b.d. + A 1 g b.d. for 7 days (OAC). Repeat breath tests were done at 6 weeks to assess H. pylori status.
Results: Three hundred and two H. pylori-positive subjects at 25 centres received medication. Intention-to-treat cure rate was significantly higher for OAC (82%) than for MOC (67%), CM (59%), AC (18%) or OA (58%), Per-protocol cure rates were 85% for OAC and 75% for MOC. Discontinuation of therapy due to a side-effect occurred in 0-3% of each study group.
Conclusions: One-week twice-daily triple therapy with omeprazole, amoxycillin and clarithromycin provides the best rate of eradication of the five regimens studied. However, treatment in the US for 7 days may be unable to achieve eradication rates of > or = 90% with proton pump inhibitor-based triple therapy.