Summary: Naloxegel is a welcoming addition to the targeted treatment possibilities for opioid-induced bowel dysfunction (OIBD).

Clinical and Experimental Gastroenterology  has published the review “Clinical potential of naloxegol in the management of opioid-induced bowel dysfunction”.

As corresponding author, Dr Brock says “Opioid-induced bowel dysfunction (OIBD) is the most common reported adverse effect in patients treated with opioids. OIBD affects the whole gastrointestinal system from mouth to anus, resulting in dyscoordinated bowel-movements, sphincter dysfunction and decreased fluid secretion leading to burdensome symptoms such as dry mouth, reflux, bloating, abdominal cramping, hard and dry stools, and incomplete evacuation.”

Dr Brock continues “Newer drugs targeting the underlying pathophysiology have recently been marketed and even more are in the pipeline. Nevertheless, future studies including a comprehensive combination of objective and subjective assessments are needed to replace previous methods, which solely have focused on the presence and degree of constipation. Hence, this systematic review provides an overview of the underlying pathophysiology and potential novel tools developed to assess the multifaceted clinical presentation of OIBD.

Due to expected release of a new drug designed to prevent and manage OIBD, naloxegol, this review focuses on the safety, efficacy, tolerability profile and clinical potential of this peripheral acting morphine receptor agonist.”

As Professor Kaiser, Editor-in-Chief, explains “The authors present an excellent review on opiate-induced bowel dysfunction in the non-surgical setting and include physiology, pathophysiology and pharmacological interventions.”

Clinical and Experimental Gastroenterology  is an international, peer reviewed, open access, online journal publishing original research, reports, editorials, reviews, and commentaries on all aspects of gastroenterology in the clinic and laboratory.

Dove Medical Press Ltd is a privately held company specializing in the publication of Open Access peer-reviewed journals across the broad spectrum of science, technology and especially medicine.