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Patients with chronic ulcerative colitis (UC) have a less-than-ideal choice: long-term steroid therapy or immunosuppressant drugs. But a new option might give them a better chance. The treatment is based on the concept of UC being caused by a dysfunction in the mucosal barrier in the colon, which in turn results from a lack of mucoprotective phos-phatidylcholine.
In a study at University Hospital in Heidelberg, Germany, 60 patients with chronic steroid-refractory UC and high clinical and endoscopic disease activity scores were assigned to receive phosphatidylcholine or cellulose placebo four times daily for 12 weeks.
The FDA has granted two New Drug Application (NDA) approvals for vigabatrin tablets and oral solution (Sabril, H. Lundbec) to treat infantile spasms in children from one month to two years of age. Sabril is the first drug in the U.S. indicated for this severe type of 
