The pharmaceutical approach to dealing with gastric pain and ulceration originally took the form of H2 receptor antagonists which act by blocking the action of histamine at the histamine H2 receptors thereby decreasing the production of stomach acid. Examples of H2 receptor antagonists include:
1. Ranitidine (Zantac)
2. Cimetidine (Tagamet)
These drugs have been largely superseded by PPIs (protein pump inhibitors) which were clinically introduced 25 years ago.
These act by causing a profound and prolonged reduction of stomach acid production. They do this by irreversibly inhibiting the stomach’s H+/K+ ATPase proton pump and are the most potent inhibitors of acid secretion available.
This class of acid production inhibitor is particularly insidious and dangerous as they effectively cause permanent damage to the stomach’s acid production.
Examples of PPIs include:
1. lansoprazole (Prevacid)
2. omeprazole (Prilosec)
Interestingly, PPIs are amongst the most prescribed (profitable) drugs in the world today and their global market is expected to reach a value of $3.52 billion by 2028 over the forecast period of 2023-2028. (https://www.expertmarketresearch.com/reports/proton-pump-inhibitors-market)