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Diacereine (DAR) is a new anti-arthrosis drug with an unusual action mechanism. Once it was found that, unlike existing FANS, DAR has no effect on prostaglandin synthesis, it was thought interesting to assess its clinical tolerability on two groups of patients. The first was a group of high risk patients with arthrosis or arthritis. The second consisted of patients with a history of duodenal ulcer or cirrhotics in the ascitic phase. In the first group the DAR was given (100 mg per diem per os) for 30 days after oesophagogastroduodenoscopy that was repeated at the end of treatment. DAR treatment of patients with ulcers in the clinical remission phase was reliable in the sense that no recurring ulceration or major endoscopic lesions were observed but the subjective tolerability was not excellent in about half the patients due to the appearance of dyspeptic symptoms that are, however, a notoriously common response to any drug treatment in this kind of case series. In a second group of 5 patients with various types of cirrhosis of the liver, the aim was to assess the effect of DAR treatment on kidney function and ascitic decompensation. The drug was administered orally in doses of 100 mg per diem for 10 days. On the basis of the results observed in this case series only it can be stated that the use of DAR on ascitic cirrhosis patients produces no alterations in kidney function and does not reduce the effectiveness of diuretic treatment. Indeed it may well be that DAR has a positive effect on diuresis, that increased in this series in line with earlier experimental results.

The effect of tiropramide hydrochloride--a new spasmolytic drug with calmodulin-independent activity--in correcting alterations of intestinal transit, has been investigated in 40 IBS patients (20 with accelerated and 20 with delayed transit time). Intestinal transit has been evaluated by means of radioopaque markers. Tiropramide hydrochloride, at a dose of 100 mg t.i.d. for 4 weeks, was found significantly more effective than placebo both in normalizing intestinal transit time and in inducing symptomatic relief.