Allergan reports positive new Viberzi clinical trial data

Allergan has announced new clinical trial data showing the safety and efficacy of its irritable bowel syndrome therapy Viberzi.

Published in the New England Journal of Medicine, the results from the two phase III studies have shown the benefits of Viberzi in the treatment of irritable bowel syndrome with diarrhoea (IBS-D).

A total of 1,280 patients in Study 1 and 1,145 patients in Study 2 received treatment with Viberzi, which was associated with improvements in diarrhoea and abdominal pain as compared with placebo.

IBS-D is a functional bowel disorder commonly characterised by chronic abdominal pain and frequent diarrhoea.

David Nicholson, president and executive vice-president of global research and development at Allergan, said: "These significant phase III results highlight the efficacy of Viberzi, demonstrating an exciting new treatment option that provides improvements for two of the most common symptoms of IBS-D, which patients have struggled to address."

The treatment was made available in the US in December 2015.