EARLY-EVENING AND LATE-EVENING ADMINISTRA TION OF ROXATIDINE ACETATE IN THE TREATMENT OF DUODENAL-ULCER

In a multicenter, placebo-controlled, comparative trial with 196 gener al practitioners and internists 730 18 to 70 year-old patients with en doscopic evidence of a duodenal ulcer were enrolled. Each group of 365 patients received 150 mg Roxatidine acetate once daily, either late i n the evening (bedtime administration, between 10.00 p.m. and 11.00 p. m.) or early in the evening (after dinner, between 6.00 p.m. and 7.00 p.m.). The endoscopic control revealed that the ulcers healed after fo ur weeks of treatment in 74% (bedtime administration) and 77% (adminis tration early in the evening), respectively. There was no significant difference ascertained between both groups. At the last visit, epigast ric pain was removed during the day in 86% and during the night in 90% in both groups.