Treato Finds a Major Shift in GERD Treatment Preferences By Patients

NEW YORK, Jan. 20, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --Today Treato, a leading consumer healthcare website, announced its first annual list of top Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease (GERD) medications based on consumer health conversations happening online. This ranking is part of a new series of drug rankings from the company. GERD medications, also commonly known as acid reflux medications, are among some of the best-selling medications of all time. According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), it is estimated that up to 20 percent of the U.S. population is affected by GERD. There are several different types of GERD medications that work to stop stomach acid that flows back into the esophagus and causes discomfort. Noticeably off the list are antacids, a type of GERD medication that neutralizes stomach acid that once dominated this category. Instead Proton Pump Inhibitors (PPIs) and Histamine Blockers (H2 Blockers), which reduce the creation of acid in the stomach, dominated the list.

An in-depth review by Treato also found consumers are still actively discussing prescription-only GERD drugs, despite the wide availability of over-the-counter (OTC) versions on the market, as three of the five top drugs are available only by prescription. Eisai's prescription-only AcipHex topped the list based on overall satisfaction. When discussing AcipHex online, consumers are frequently discussing being prescribed the medication after serious GERD issues that ended up in hospitalization. Similar to AcipHex, consumers talking about Carafate, another prescription-only GERD medication, discussed being prescribed the medication after a major surgery or procedure like an endoscopy. Zantac, the top OTC GERD medication to make the list, is most frequently being discussed by women who are pregnant and experiencing heartburn, particularly at night. Interestingly, missing from the list is top-selling GERD medication Nexium. According to Medscape, Nexium was the eighth-highest selling drug in 2015 out of all categories.

Top Treato-ranked GERD Medications:

(5 being the highest score and 1 being the lowest score)

** The prices listed for prescription medications are provided by OneRx before any insurance co-pays or drug discounts. For medications available OTC, the prices listed are for the most popular version sold on the websites of major drugstore chains.

"GERD is a very crowded category with options available by both prescription and OTC," says Ido Hadari, CEO of Treato. "While many GERD medications went OTC over the past several years, it's clear that improved accessibility to these medications didn't improve consumers' satisfaction with these drugs. We hope the transparency of this ranking will help both manufacturers improve the solution set as well as consumers make better informed decisions."

Find out more about Treato's GERD medication ranking.  For the full set of GERD scores, please contact us directly.

Treato's Methodology:

TreatoVoice is a unique data asset that continuously collects and analyzes more than two billion patient and caregiver conversations happening across the Internet to understand what patients are saying about their experiences with their conditions and treatments. Within TreatoVoice, we have the capability to algorithmically identify and rank patients' experiences with medications within their Web posts based on the following methodologies:

• Treato Satisfaction scores are overall drug scores that are calculated based on a ratio of positive to negative experiences about a medication with weight given to the volume and recency of conversations happening online.

For more about Treato scores, please visit: https://treato.com/treato-drug-scores

About Treato:

Treato™, the leading source of health insights from millions of real health consumers, uses patented analytics and big data technology to turn billions of disparate online conversations into meaningful social intelligence. With more than two billion posts analyzed and continuously expanding, Treato has partnered with 9 out of the world's top 10 pharma companies as well as numerous other multi-national pharmaceutical companies and healthcare organizations. Treato.com, its consumer website, helps millions of visitors each month.

Treato is privately held with offices in Israel, New York and Princeton, NJ. Investors include Reed Elsevier Ventures, OrbiMed Partners and New Leaf Venture Partners, among others. For more information please visit https://treato.com/ 

Contact:
Allyson Noonan
Media Relations Manager
+1-(858)-245-7256
[email protected]

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SOURCE Treato