Charcoal Therapy Appears Not To Slow CKD Progression.

MedPage Today  (11/5, Fiore) reports, "A form of charcoal pill doesn't appear to slow the progression of chronic kidney disease (CKD)," according to research presented at a poster session at Kidney Week. "In a pooled analysis of two randomized controlled trials, similar proportions of patients taking either placebo or the charcoal pill AST-120 (marketed as Kremezin in Japan) reached a primary composite endpoint of time to dialysis, kidney transplant, or doubling of serum creatinine (36% and 35%, respectively)," researchers reported. The study's lead author told MedPage Today, "Unfortunately, this study did not show for the whole cohort...a difference between placebo and the active drug as opposed to in Japan, where many studies suggested that it did slow progression."