Ulcerative colitis, a type of inflammatory bowel disease, which spoils the comfort of living for about 700.000 people in the USA only, belongs to the medical conditions, which are both difficult to diagnose (because people usually avoid talking with their doctors about such problems as rectal bleeding, frequent bowel movements and blood in the stool) and to treat as well (because scientists have not yet discovered the actual cause of the problem).

 

However, modern pharmaceutical industry can offer solutions even for those heath problems, the nature of which have not been fully understood. Yes, there is no pill available nowadays to cure ulcerative colitis once and forever; but there are enough options to keep the disorder under control by reducing the frequency of flare-ups and relieving the severity of symptoms. One of the latest inventions of pharmaceutics in the area of ulcerative colitis treatments is called Lialda, the only FDA-approved, once-daily oral prescription drug of its kind.

 

In addition to treating ulcerative colitis by helping patients reach remission of the disease, Lialda possesses certain features, which are definitely positive and beneficial from the practical point of view.

 

First of all, Lialda is a once-daily treatment of ulcerative colitis. It means that only one or two tablets of Lialda taken once a day are enough for providing therapeutic effect of the drug. The point is ulcerative colitis is a pretty complicated disease with many different symptoms and manifestations; that is why patients usually have to take several different pills, which may not always be very convenient.

 

Another benefit of Lialda is that this medication is designed in a special way in order to work only in the body organ, which is affected by the disorder; in case of ulcerative colitis it is colon. Lialda pills are featured with the MMX Technology – the tablets are coated with a gastro-resistant pH dependent polymer film. It means that the tablet can pass though the stomach without being destroyed by gastric acids, and only in the bowel, where the pH balance is different, the coating of the tablet dissolves and releases mesalamine, which is the main working ingredient of Lialda.

 

Another benefit of Lialda is that it is said to be more like a topical medication, not a systemic. It means that its main ingredient does not pass into the bloodstream or it does only in very small amounts. As the result, the medication has a pretty nice safety profile with low rate of side effects.

 

Speaking about side effects, it should be noted that the official web site of Lialda mentions only headache and flatulence as the most common side effects. It is interesting to note, that clinical trials, which were conducted to check the safety of Lialda, showed that the medication had side effects rate even lower than the placebo pill (empty or sugar pill with no therapeutic value). Among those who participated in the trials only 2.2% of patients treated with Lialda discontinued the therapy because of side effects, while the rate of discontinuations because of adverse reactions in the placebo-group was 7.3%.

 

However, it is also worthy to note that in some very rare cases patients on Lialda may experience aggravation of the ulcerative colitis symptoms, suffer from severe stomach pain, cramping, fever, headache and bloody diarrhoea. Sometimes even the signs of allergic reaction may occur – hives, difficulty breathing, and swelling of the face, lips, tongue or throat. In case of experiencing any of such symptoms a patient should stop taking Lialda and seek for medical help at once.

 

Nick