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Developing a new method to measure gastric acid secretion after a meal

While working with the Warner-Lambert data, SFO realized that our analytic method could also be used to measure the amount of gastric acid that is secreted after eating a meal. In GERD patients, this meal-stimulated secretion is a common cause of esophageal acid reflux and heartburn. This was an important discovery because the only existing analytic method was not only complicated to use, but could not be used at all during the normal living conditions of patients who were taking a gastric antisecretory drug.

[View details of the new method in Reference 333.]

Identifying a novel action of cisapride

We also used our method to measure meal-stimulated gastric secretion for Janssen Pharmaceutica. Our work showed that cisapride, a drug Janssen manufactured, reduced esophageal acid exposure in GERD patients by inhibiting meal-stimulated gastric acid secretion, and not by increasing the emptying of gastric acid as had been assumed earlier. This finding identified a novel target for drugs that might inhibit meal-stimulated secretion.

[View details in Reference 335.]