Your Health

Calming Colonoscopy Fears

Posted: 9/30/2011

(NAPSI)—With colorectal cancer being the second-leading cause of cancer death in the United States after lung canceri, having a regular colonoscopy would be a no-brainer, right? Wrong! Despite the fact that many times, colon cancer can be preventedii, many people are not getting tested and only about four out of 10 are diagnosed at the early stage, when treatment is most likely to be successfulii.

Many studies have shown that patients do not like the preparation.iii In August 2010, the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) approved SUPREP® Bowel Prep Kit (sodium sulfate, potassium sulfate and magnesium sulfate). The product is now available by prescription.

The SUPREP® Bowel Prep Kit, manufactured by Braintree Laboratories, Inc., is an effective, low-volume bowel preparation, indicated for the cleansing of the colon prior to colonoscopy in adults. SUPREP® Bowel Prep Kit is Braintree’s first colonoscopy preparation with split dosing. Patients drink two 6-ounce bottles of SUPREP (each bottle is mixed with 10 ounces of water)—the first is taken the evening before and the second is taken the morning of the procedure. In the first hour following both doses, patients must drink two additional 16-ounce glasses of water.

“Although colon cancer can be preventedi, too many people are not getting tested and only about four out of 10 are diagnosed at the early stage, when treatment is most likely to be successful.”

“Years of research at Braintree have culminated in the approval of SUPREP®,” said Harry Keegan IV, Vice President, Marketing and Sales. “We are very excited by its 98.4 percent efficacy result in a Phase III trial.”iv

For more information, please visit www.suprepkit.com.

Braintree Laboratories is a privately held pharmaceutical company that was founded in 1982 in Braintree, Massachusetts. Braintree pioneered the first gastrointestinal lavage in 1984 with the introduction of GoLYTELY® (PEG-3350 and Electrolytes for Oral Solution), which was soon adopted as a standard colonoscopy preparation procedure. Today, Braintree Laboratories has four gastrointestinal lavages available in the U.S. market.

i National Cancer Institute Fact Sheet. Available at: http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/factsheet/Detection/colorectal-screening

ii American Cancer Society, Learn About Cancer, Colon/Rectum Cancer. Available at: http://www.cancer.org/Cancer/ColonandRectumCancer/MoreInformation/five-myths-about-colorectal-cancer

iii Summers, R., The Elephant in the Room: Bowel Preparation for CT Colonography Editorial for Academic Radiology article 08410R1, Acad Radiol. 2009 July; 16(7): 777−779.

iv Rex DK, Di Palma JA, Rodriguez R, McGowan J, Cleveland M. A randomized clinical study comparing reduced-volume oral sulfate solution with standard 4-liter sulfate-free electrolyte lavage solution as preparation for colonoscopy. Gastrointest Endosc. 2010;72:328-336