There’s a new drug on the way for Israelis with acute heartburn – but we’re not really talking about “just” heartburn; many people in the Jewish State actually suffer from a condition eosinophilic esophagitis.
This is a rare chronic disease of the human immune system which involves an accumulation of eosinophils — white blood cells — whose main function in the immune system is to eliminate infections.
The accumulation comes in response to food, allergens or acid reflux (gastric and esophageal reflux) and can cause irreversible damage to the esophageal tissue. Damaged esophageal tissue is very serious because it can cause real difficulty in swallowing food, thereby causing food to get stuck in the esophagus while eating. It also causes difficulty swallowing, difficulty in transferring food to the stomach, abdominal and chest pain, diarrhea and weight loss.
The disease affects people of all ages, both sexes and all ethnicities. It tends to run in some families more than others; that is, doctors believe there is a genetic component — the disease can be inherited. Sometimes people with eosinophilic esophagitis also suffer from other atopic diseases such as asthma, atopic dermatitis (asthma of the skin) or food allergies.
The treatment currently offered is divided into a number of options: drug therapy, dietary therapy or a combination of both. The drug treatment given to date is a treatment that inhibits gastric acid secretion (PPI) or a pharmacological preparation of a steroid-containing gel taken orally.
But recently a dedicated drug containing the same steroid in a unique method of administration, was developed to treat the disease. It was submitted to the 2021 Health Ministry “basket” by Rafa Laboratories, according to a report on the Hebrew-language B’Hadarei Ha’Haredim website.
The disease is underdiagnosed in Israel and around the world because patients are sometimes mistakenly diagnosed with reflux (gastric and esophageal reflux) while suffering from eosinophilic esophagitis.
As a result, there are no accurate statistics on the number of people affected by this disease; however, it is estimated that one in 5,000 suffer from eosinophilic esophagitis. The hope is that the new drug will indeed be included in the basket, which will make it easier for patients with the disease to cope.