MedWire News: Patients infected with the stomach-ulcer bug Helicobacter pylori do not gain any extra benefit from treatment with double-dose, new-generation proton pump inhibitor drugs, compared with the single-dose, older versions of these drugs, study results suggest.

Dr Dong Il Park, from Sungkyunkwan University in Seoul, South Korea, and colleagues explain that triple therapy with a stomach acid-suppressing proton pump inhibitor drug and two antibiotics is the standard treatment for people infected with Helicobacter pylori.

However, they add: "There are few studies comparing double-dose, new-generation proton pump inhibitors with standard-dose old-generation proton pump inhibitors."

To investigate, the researchers studied data on 576 patients who were treated for Helicobacter pylori infection in 2006.

The patients were treated with one of three new-generation proton pump inhibitors or an old-generation proton pump inhibitor, plus two antibiotics, for 1 week.

Analysis revealed that there was no significant difference in Helicobacter pylori eradication rates between patients who received the new-generation proton pump inhibitors and those who received the older type of drug, whether they had stomach ulcers or not.

However, one of the double-dose, new-generation proton pump inhibitor drugs was associated with a slightly increased risk of diarrhoea and abdominal pain.

Dr Park and team therefore conclude: "The present study unearthed no evidence that the double-dose, new-generation proton pump inhibitors...have better eradication rates than [old-generation proton pump inhibitors]."

The research is published in the journal Helicobacter.