Lansoprazole

Lansoprazole, sold under the brand name Prevacid among others, is a medication which reduces stomach acid. It is a proton pump inhibitor, used to treat peptic ulcer disease, gastroesophageal reflux disease, and Zollinger–Ellison syndrome. Its effectiveness is similar to that of other PPIs. It is taken by mouth. Onset is over a few hours and effects last up to a couple of days.
Common side effects include constipation, abdominal pain, and nausea. Serious side effects may include osteoporosis, low blood magnesium, Clostridioides difficile infection, and pneumonia. Use in pregnancy and breastfeeding is of unclear safety. It works by blocking H⁺/K⁺-ATPase in the parietal cells of the stomach.
Lansoprazole was patented in 1984 and came into medical use in 1992. It is available as a generic medication. In 2022, it was the 224th most commonly prescribed medication in the United States, with more than 1million prescriptions.

Medical uses

Lansoprazole is used for treatment of:

Ulcers of the stomach and duodenum, and NSAID-induced ulcers
Helicobacter pylori infection, alongside antibiotics, treatment to kill H. pylori causing ulcers or other problems involves using two other drugs besides lansoprazole known as "triple therapy", and involves taking twice daily for 10 or 14 days lansoprazole, amoxicillin, and clarithromycin
Gastroesophageal reflux disease
Zollinger–Ellison syndrome

There is no good evidence that it works better than other PPIs.

Side effects

Side effects of PPIs in general and lansoprazole in particular may include:

Common: diarrhea, abdominal pain
Infrequent: dry mouth, insomnia, drowsiness, blurred vision, rash, pruritus
Rarely and very rarely: taste disturbance, liver dysfunction, peripheral oedema, hypersensitivity reactions, photosensitivity, fever, sweating, depression, interstitial nephritis, blood disorders, arthralgia, myalgia, skin reactions including

PPIs may be associated with a greater risk of hip fractures and Clostridioides difficile-associated diarrhea.

Interactions

Lansoprazole interacts with several other drugs, either due to its nature or as a PPI.

PPIs reduce absorption of antifungals and possibly increase digoxin in plasma
Increases plasma concentrations of cilostazol

Lansoprazole possibly interacts with, among other drugs:

It is a racemic 1:1 mixture of the enantiomers dexlansoprazole and levolansoprazole. Dexlansoprazole is an enantiomerically pure active ingredient of a commercial drug as a result of the enantiomeric shift. Lansoprazole's plasma elimination half-life is not proportional to the duration of the drug's effects to the person.

History

Lansoprazole was originally synthesized at Takeda and was given the development name AG 1749. Takeda patented it in 1984 and the drug was launched in 1991. In the United States, it was approved for medical use in 1995.

Society and culture

Patents

Patent protection of the lansoprazole molecule expired on 10 November 2009, and generic formulations became available under many brand names in many countries. Some formulations may not be available in generic form.

Availability

Since 2009, lansoprazole has been available over the counter in the U.S. as Prevacid 24HR and as Lansoprazole 24HR. In Australia, it is marketed by Pfizer as Zoton.

Research

In vitro experiments have shown that lansoprazole binds to the pathogenic form of tau protein. laboratory studies were underway on analogs of lansoprazole to explore their use as potential PET imaging agents for diagnosing tauopathies including Alzheimer's disease.