US sales of former best-selling ulcer treatment ranitidine (Zantac) fell by 55% Zantac, which was the world's biggest-selling drug for 11 years until last year, currently faces eight generic competitors in the key US market. According to market research firm IMS America, Glaxo's sales of Zantac in the US in the first half of the year totalled $726 million, down 21% percent. Worldwide sales of the drug were down 20% at 807 million pounds over the same period.

COMMENT: It never continues to amaze me how traditional medicine does not understand the most fundamental basics of human physiology. This is easily confirmed by examination of the sales of the most popular drug in the world. As the above item underlines, Zantac has been the most popular drug in the world for the last 11 years. Their position has changed due to competition and generics. Overall though this drug class remains very high and is probably only eclipsed by the sales of antibiotics.

I graduated from medical school 15 years ago and at that time a family physician from Australia, Dr. Barry Marshall, was able to turn the medical community upside down with his research on the cause of ulcers. His single handed insights and research conclusively proved that there was an infectious agent involved in the process. It took over ten years before the medical community in general took him seriously. However, many individuals still rely on using this symptomatic band aid to treat their ulcer problems.

The antibiotic approach to the treatment of ulcer disease is better than using drugs like Zantac which suppress the body's ability to produce acid and properly digest food. However, it does not address the more foundational cause of most ulcer disease which is relative dehydration. There are a certain number of ulcer cases which are caused by taking anti-inflammatory drugs. These can be over the counter preparation like Motrin or aspirin or the prescription ones, they can be equally dangerous. In fact, 30,000 people a year die from bleeding ulcers caused by these types of medications.

If an ulcer is not caused by anti-inflammatory medication then large amounts of pure water (filtered or bottled), generally on the order of 12 eight ounce glasses per day for the average sized adult will heal most ulcers in a week or two. This is a much safer and less expensive alternative that clearly most of the medical community is still clueless about. Additional measures which would be helpful include the elimination of sugar and the addition of powdered, not capsule, healthy bacteria cultures such as acidophilus and bifidus.