Once-daily administration of famotidine for reflux esophagitis

An open-labeled study of once-daily administration of 40 mg famotidine was conducted in 24 patients with endoscopically confirmed reflux esophagitis. The mean age of the patients was 62.8 years. Most had stage I or stage II esophagitis of 1 years' duration or less. After 4, 8, 12, and 16 weeks of treatment, endoscopically documented healing was reported in 50%, 75%, 82%, and 83% of patients, respectively. Among specific endoscopic findings documented at the start of the study there was clearing of white exudate in 83% of patients, and redness cleared in 50% of patients after 16 weeks of treatment. Symptomatic improvement was observed in 73% of patients after 2 weeks, and this increased to 81% and 85% after 4 and 8 weeks of treatment, respectively. Painful symptoms cleared within 2 weeks in 68% of patients, and this increased to 77% after 8 weeks of once-daily therapy. Famotidine was well tolerated. Historically, reflux esophagitis has not responded satisfactorily to drug treatment. The reported symptomatic response and the response documented by endoscopy after therapy with 40 mg famotidine once daily at bedtime are encouraging. Further studies should be conducted to define the role of famotidine in the treatment of reflux esophagitis.