In 2018, I asked whether you’d be an early adopter of medical treatment of celiac disease.
When a friend recently assumed I’d give my kids a pill rather than restrict them to a gluten-free diet, I was surprised.
When there’s a way to address symptoms caused by a disease or condition through dietary changes without it resulting in life-threatening results, that is the choice I’ll make. Could that change? Perhaps. I’m always open to advancing science. If there were a vaccine for Celiac Disease that had been thoroughly tested, I would still be extra cautious when it comes to developing children because they can live a healthy life without medication.
For me, the distinction is in automatically choosing convenience vs committing to a less convenient, but well-established healthy option. If we follow the line of reasoning that convenience rules, there should be no question that fast-food is the best choice for our children. Hopefully, we know better. And hopefully, we are more thoughtfully informed when choosing other options for our kids.
With that in mind, let’s review the status of previously explored treatments:
BL-7010 has not completed clinical trials evaluating safety. https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT01990885?intr=BL-7010
Egg Yolk Therapy aka dietary supplement AGY-010 completed a study of 149 individuals. That’s too small a number of individuals to draw any conclusion other than further research is needed
https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT03707730
Larazotide Acetate entered a Phase 3 clinical trial for safety in 2022. This study was terminated.
Latiglutenase entered Phase 2B clinical trials on an oral dissolvable powder in 2023. A Phase 3 trial is planned.
https://adisinsight.springer.com/trials/700318623
Saliva Rothia was studied in 24 children in a clinical trial published in 2024.
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-024-67677-4
TIMP-Gliadin was studied in a trial published in 2024.
https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT03409796
Nexvax2 trials were discontinued when the vaccine proved to be no more effective than placebo.
What we can see from a comparison of the previous list and this one is that it takes a very long time to bring new treatments to market even when early trials are promising. There are many complicating factors like funding, participant recruitment, and world events like pandemics.
This can be frustrating for anyone who has a disease that must be treated with medication! While you may not feel lucky to have celiac disease, at least there’s a dietary alternative.
Researchers continue to explore. For a quick view of the clinical development pipeline for treatment of celiac disease, visit:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1359644624002381
Eventually, there may be a safe, effective, convenient choice. Until that time, we’re here to help you manage the diet.
Disclosure of Material Connection: I have not received any compensation for writing this post. I have no material connection to the brands, products, or services that I have mentioned. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
