Altana launches ReQuest for GERD patients

German drugmaker Altana AG has launched ReQuest, a new symptom questionnaire for gastroesophageal reflux disease patients to complete in order to provide clinicians with a robust understanding of their symptoms, enable categorization according to the severity of their condition and use this information to make an accurate assessment of their treatment outcome.

According to the firm, data presented at the 14th United European Gastroenterology Week congress, held in Berlin, Germany, show that, to optimize attainment of complete remission, the duration of treatment should be tailored according to the severity of initial esophagitis. Treatment for 12 weeks is necessary to achieve complete remission in patients who have more severe grades of esophagitis.

Altana noted that the comprehensive symptom evaluation using ReQuest, in combination with endoscopy, is being used in current large-scale international trials, which aim to identify how treatment can be tailored and response predicted.