Commentary: daily pantoprazole vs. esomeprazole for GERD – authors' reply

Abstract

We thank Dhaliwal and Nwokolo for their commentary on our paper.1, 2 They mention that the detected superiority of pantoprazole-Mg over esomeprazole was marginal. We do not agree. While at 8 weeks the rates of complete remission were similar for both products, the symptom relief rate was significantly higher (P = 0.0206) with pantoprazole-Mg. Whether one regards a more than 5.6% difference clinically marginal is, of course, debatable. They also suggest that the difference in the response rates between pantoprazole-Mg and esomeprazole at the end of 8 weeks could be due to an unbalanced distribution of Helicobacter pylori in the study groups. This may be true, but some points should be considered.Helicobacter pylori was not studied in the present series because gastroduodenal lesions were excluded a priori.