Elobixibat, a minimally absorbed inhibitor of ileal bile acid transporter (IBAT), is safe and effective for treating chronic constipation, according to results from a phase 3 trial. "This new medication actually enhances a natural laxative that we all have in our gastrointestinal tract," the study's senior author told.
While only a minority of cases of functional constipation can be traced to a deficiency in bile acid, he added, "I think we can generalize that this medication would work for all comers with constipation, not just the ones that have a deficiency." Bile acids help relieve constipation by inducing water secretion and speeding colonic transit, and elobixibat is believed to target both mechanisms, senior author and his colleagues note in The Lancet Gastroenterology & Hepatology , online May 24. They randomly assigned 133 patients to receive 10 mg of elobixibat or placebo for…
