Patent ID: 7771747

Claim:
A method for treating at least one symptom of gastro-esophageal reflux disease (GERD) in a human suffering from GERD consisting essentially of (i) providing an oral dosage form for release of active ingredients in a gastro-intestinal tract consisting essentially of a proton pump inhibitor (PPI) selected from a group consisting of lansoprazole, omeprazole, pantoprazole, rabeprazole, pariprazole, leminoprazole, and their pharmaceutically acceptable salts, isomers including enantiomers, and pharmaceutically acceptable salts of said isomers, an H2 receptor antagonist selected from a group consisting of cimetidine, ranitidine, nizatidine and famotidine, and their pharmaceutically acceptable salts, isomers, and pharmaceutically acceptable salts of said isomers, and a coating on the PPI and not on the H2RA to delay and/or extend the release of the PPI relative to the release of the H2RA in the gastro-intestinal tract, and ooptionally an antacid agent or an alginate, (ii) adopting a dose regime for the oral dosage form by selecting a dosage amount of the PPI with the coating and a dosage amount of the H2RA free of a coating to affect, upon simultaneous administration to the gastro-intestinal tract, a rise in gastric pH to above about 3 within about 2 hours of administration, (iii) orally administering the oral dosage form according to the dose regime to deliver into the gastro-intestinal tract the selected dosage amount of the PPI including the coating simultaneously with the selected dosage amount of the H2RA free of a coating and affect a rise in gastric pH to above about 3 within about 2 hours of the oral dosage, thereby treating the at least one symptom of GERD promptly, and (iv) repeating (iii) if necessary over a prolonged period until 6 hours from the administration of the last dose wherein the at least one symptom of GERD is selected from a group consisting of heartburn, sour stomach, and upper abdominal pain.