Tranzyme Pharma today announced that Philippa Charlton, MD, Tranzyme's Medical Director, and her colleagues G. Bochicchio, J.C. Pezullo, G. Kosutic, and A. Senagore, will present a poster entitled "The Prokinetic Agent TZP-101 (a Ghrelin Agonist) Accelerates GI Recovery in Partial Colectomy Patients Independently of Total Opioid Use and Type of Surgery" at the upcoming 2010 Annual Scientific Meeting of the American Society of Colon and Rectal Surgeons (ASCRS; Minneapolis, May 15-19). The poster session will be held on Tuesday, May 18th in Exhibit Hall B of the Minneapolis Convention Center.
“The Prokinetic Agent TZP-101 (a Ghrelin Agonist) Accelerates GI Recovery in Partial Colectomy Patients Independently of Total Opioid Use and Type of Surgery”
The presentation examines predictors of gastrointestinal (GI) recovery in surgical patients who have undergone partial large bowel resection. The results indicated that although opioid use prolonged recovery slightly, it did not impact the ability of TZP-101 to accelerate recovery of bowel function, consistent with its opioid-independent mechanism of action. Similarly, whereas the extent of opioid use varied by country (U.S., Romania, Lithuania, India), GI recovery in patients receiving TZP-101 was unaffected by the country in which it was tested further emphasizing that the efficacy of TZP-101 is not limited by the use of opioids for pain management.
POI is a multi-factorial, transient impairment of gastrointestinal (GI) motility following abdominal or other surgery. Symptoms include abdominal distention, pain, nausea and vomiting, and inability to pass stools and tolerate a solid diet. Delays in resuming a normal diet may lead to poor wound healing and increased risk of infection through a cascade of events. POI is associated with an increased length of hospital stay and concomitant costs, and is the most common cause of delayed hospital discharge after abdominal surgery. The prolonged hospitalization raises the possibility for serious pulmonary complications. In the United States alone, 2.4 million patients undergo abdominal surgery each year and experience delayed GI recovery (source: Premier Database).