Drug Therapy for Acute Pancreatitis

Acute pancreatitis (AP) remains a disease with significant morbidity and mortality, and the reported incidence is increasing. Despite a significant amount of research over the last few decades with greater understanding of the pathophysiology of AP, there are still no specific drugs available. Therefore, the current treatment is limited to supportive care such as fluid, nutrition, and treatment of complications. In this review, we discuss potential novel targeted pharmacologic approaches that may offer promise in the treatment of AP such as anti-secretory agents, protease inhibitors, probiotics, anti-inflammatory agents, anti-oxidants, and anti-TNF-α agents. While many drugs were reported to have efficacy in animal experiments, human studies have been largely disappointing. Better understanding of AP pathophysiology likely will facilitate future therapies in AP.