ULGICID SUSPENSION

Product Highlights

Ulgicid is best given when symptoms occur or are expected, usually between mealtimes, and at bedtime, four or more times daily; additional doses may be required up to once an hour. Liquid preparations are usually more effective than solid preparations.

ACTIONS AND PHARMACOLOGY

Alginic acid containing antacid mixtures such as alginic acid, aluminium hydroxide, magnesium trisilicate can be particularly useful in patients with reflux oesophagitis.

ALUMINIUM & MAGNESIUM IN ULGICID: Ulgicid contains the right balance of aluminium & magnesium compounds so as not to significantly change bowel function.

ACTIVATED DIMETHICONE (SIMETHICONE) IN ULGICID: Either alone or with antacid mixture acts as an antifoaming agent to reduce flatulence. It is a silicon polymer that lowers surface tension and allows the small bubbles of froth to coalesce into large bubbles that can be more easily passed up from the stomach or down from the colon. Antacid dimethisone combination may also be useful for the relief of hiccup in palliative care.

ALGINIC ACID IN ULGICID: It is combined with antacids to encourage adherence of the mixture to the mucosa. Alginate as mucosal protectant is useful in reflux oesophagitis. As the ingredients used in this drug are well established, tolerated and accepted all over the world and hence test confirming its physiological availability pharmacological effects studies are not conducted.

Pharmacology: Antacids neutralize gastric acidity, resulting in an increase in the pH of the stomach and duodenal bulb.

PHARMACOKINETICS

Mixtures of alginic acid and antacid, when given orally, react with gastric acid to form a viscous barrier (raft) which floats on the surface of the gastric contents. In vivo, raft formation was significantly better in normal subjects who ingested dilute acid with the labeled alginate/antacid than in subjects who ingested the labeled alginate/antacid with plain water. Gastric emptying of the labeled alginate was also slowed by the presence of acidified gastric contents. These results suggest that the formation of an effective alginic acid antireflux barrier requires acidic gastric contents.