Ozercan M, Tawheed A, Ismail A, Amer MS, El-Kassas M. Vonoprazan and proton pump inhibitors: Which is superior for Helicobacter pylori eradication? World J Gastroenterol 2025; 31(17): 103156 [DOI: 10.3748/wjg.v31.i17.103156]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Mohamed El-Kassas, Department of Endemic Medicine, Helwan University, Ain Helwan, Cairo 11795, Egypt. m_elkassas@hq.helwan.edu.eg
Research Domain of This Article
Gastroenterology & Hepatology
Article-Type of This Article
Letter to the Editor
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Co-corresponding authors: Ahmed Tawheed and Mohamed El-Kassas.
Author contributions: El-Kassas M designed the overall concept and outline of the manuscript; Ozercan M and Tawheed A wrote the manuscript; Ismail A and Amer MS searched the literature. El-Kassas M and Tawheed A are co-corresponding authors for this article, and both made equal contributions. All authors contributed to this article and approved the final version of the manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
Open Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Mohamed El-Kassas, Department of Endemic Medicine, Helwan University, Ain Helwan, Cairo 11795, Egypt. m_elkassas@hq.helwan.edu.eg
Received: November 11, 2024 Revised: February 16, 2025 Accepted: March 12, 2025 Published online: May 7, 2025 Processing time: 170 Days and 0.9 Hours
Abstract
Helicobacter pylori is a worldwide health problem; therefore, eradicating this bacterium is important for the health and economic status of the whole world. There are a variety of anti-secretory and antibiotic combinations for this purpose; however, antibiotic resistance is a major barrier to achieving an appropriate eradication rate (> 90%). Blockage of gastric acid is the main supportive factor of the antibiotic effect on bacteria. Therefore, anti-secretory therapy with high efficacy and safety profiles should be used in eradication regimens. Vonoprazan (VPZ), a member of the potassium competitive acid blockers, is a novel agent with a potent anti-secretory effect. The present study aimed to summarize comparative and safety studies of VPZ and proton pump inhibitors (PPIs), especially the efficacy on Helicobacter pylori eradication. VPZ was reported to have a higher efficacy and safety profile in most studies that compared VPZ-based and PPI-based regimens for eradication therapy. Despite its greater cost, the effectiveness of VPZ emerges as a viable and cost-effective alternative to PPI on gastric acid-related pathologies.
Core Tip: In this article, we summarize the current evidence regarding the better choice between proton pump inhibitors and vonoprazan for treating the very common global disease Helicobacter pylori infection. We also comment on a recently published article by Gao et al, where the authors provided real-life experiences managing Helicobacter pylori in the elderly using vonoprazan.
