A long-term clinical study showed that Relizorb improves fatty acid absorption in cystic fibrosis patients suffering from fat malabsorption or pancreatic deficiencies.
Alcresta Therapeutics, Relizorb’s developer, presented data from its ASSURE study at the North American Cystic Fibrosis Conference (NACFC), held Nov 2-4 in Indianapolis.
CF patients often don’t produce enough lipase, a digestive enzyme that catalyzes the breakdown of fats. Lipase is the active ingredient in Relizorb; this helps break down fat in the enteral formula given to patients, allowing them to absorb 90 percent of the fats present in most enteral feeding tube formulas.
“Fat digestion and absorption is critical to overall patient health,” Dr Steven Freedman, chief of the Division of Translational Research at Boston’s Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, said in a press release. “In conditions such as cystic fibrosis, there can be insufficient lipase production by the pancreas. This results in fat malabsorption, leading to a deficiency of critical omega-3 fats as well as a spectrum of clinical symptoms, including diarrhea, bloating, nausea and significant weight loss.”
