Welcome to Gluten Free Drugs
A source of information for gluten free drugs
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Congressman Tim Ryan, Ohio (D) and Congresswoman Nita Lowrey, New York (D) are co-sponsoring a bill, Gluten in Medication Indentification Act (HR 4972) in May. This bill will require labeling which will make it easier to identify gluten in pharmaceutical products. Please contact your Congressperson and encourage them to support the bill.
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Some drug companies have been telling people that some of the drugs that they manufacture contain gluten. When I investigated their claims it appears that the reason they are blatantly claiming that their drugs are contaminated is because they have used a sugar alcohol as an excipient.
Sugar alcohols are not truly sugars or alcohols rather they are carbohydrates that provide a source of calories. The sugar alcohols are naturally found in a number of fruits and vegetables and may be extracted from many sources including any starch, including wheat. During the manufacturing process they are completely refined leaving behind no gluten proteins similar to making table sugar. The mostly widely used sugar alcohols used in prescription drug manufacturing are mannitol and xylitol. Both of the products are used either as sweeteners in liquid drug products or as bulking agents in the solid dosage forms.
The sugar alcohols are used in many diabetic products as well as in many health foods such as nutrition bars. Any person who consumes one of the sugar alcohols in significant quantities can experience gastrointestinal disturbances and diarrhea which may mimic symptoms celiac patients may suffer after being exposed to gluten.
National celiac organizations such as the
Gluten Intolerance Group of
What does this means for the celiac patient? If you happen to contact a drug company for information and you are told that a drug contains gluten you really need to push them to tell you which excipient in that drug product is considered the source of the gluten contamination. If it turns out to be one sugar alcohols you may wish to re-evaluate their response. While it is always up to the celiac patient to determine whether a product is safe for them, the prevailing literature continues to suggest that these sugar alcohols are safe for use.
If you have any additional questions please contact me through the glutenfreedrugs.com website.
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ITEMS OF INTEREST-IMPORTANT !!!
15th International Celiac Disease Symposium 2013 Chicago
September 22-25, 2013
Sheraton Chicago Hotel and Towers
301 East North Water Street
Chicago, IL 60611
Symposium chaired by Dr. Stafano Guandalini, MD, and Dr. Bana Jabri, MD, PhD
The symposium will have two educational tracks: Clinical Forum and Scientific Forum
For additional information and registration:
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Adults with celiac disease needed for a research study!
The Celiac Center at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, MA, is testing a new automated phone survey to measure symptoms of celiac disease that can be used to test new treatments for celiac disease.
We are looking for people with celiac disease to test the new survey while eating a food with or without a small amount of gluten.
Participants will take the survey every day for 8 weeks and will come to BIDMC 5 times during the study.
You will be compensated for your time.
This study is being sponsored by Alvine Pharmaceuticals.
If you are interested in learning more, please contact:
Dr. Daniel Leffler
The Celiac Center
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
Phone: 617.667.8397
celiac@bidmc.harvard.edu<
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ The University of Chicago Celiac Disease Center
develop a new survey of symptoms of celiac disease. We are looking for
people with celiac disease to test the new survey while eating a food with
or without a small amount of gluten.
To qualify for this study you must:
*Be biopsy-diagnosed with celiac disease by an upper endoscopy (EGD)
*Been on a gluten-free diet for at least 12 months
*Have internet and telephone access
Participants will take the survey every day for 8 weeks. Participants will
come to The University
of Chicago Medical Center in Hyde Park for a visit 5 times during the study.
For participation in this study you will receive $75 for each study visit
and 1 phone call that you complete in the form of a check, a total of $450.
You will also be provided with parking passes to cover the cost of each
study visit.
If you would like to participate in this study or have further questions
about the study, please email or call our clinical research coordinator,
NurAlima Grandison, at ngrandison@uchicago.edu or (773) 702-3572.
The University of Chicago Celiac Disease Center
5841 S. Maryland Ave
Chicago, IL 60637
Website: www.cureceliacdisease.org
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MEDICATIONS AND ADDITIONAL LINKS
For a list by therapeutic category
For a list by therpeutic catagory in printable PDF
format
For an alphabetical list in
printable PDF format
Walgreens
gluten free OTC drug list
Vicks Nature Fusion (click on this link for press release and gluten statement and below to access web site)
http://www.vicks.com/nature-
Pure Matters Gluten Free Vitamins
http://shop.purematters.com/gluten-free/c/504/
Wheaton
Gluten Free Support Group medication list
For a list that explains what some of the fillers are in drugs
Links to various local and national associations and support groups
Updated 5/9/2013
This website is authored and maintained by a clinical pharmacist as a public service,
receiving no compensation whatsoever for providing this information. Information for
this website is obtained from a number of sources, including personal contact with the
manufacturers and input from other individuals who contact manufacturers. The
information is continually updated as it is obtained.
This site is for informational purposes only. Please note that a reasonable attempt
is made to provide accurate information. The webmaster is not responsible for any
error contained within. All persons should interpret the information with caution
and should seek medical advice when necessary.
This website currently does not accept advertising. If, in the future, advertising
is accepted, it will be clearly distinguished from editorial content.
There are no membership requirements associated with using this site and there will
never be any solicitations for money from its users.
To contact the author and webmaster, please email me at: mailto:glutenfreedrugs@gmail.com
Please note: I am not able to check the email daily, so please be patient. I will attempt to address all questions as quickly as possible.
