REVIEW article
Front. Physiol.
Sec. Gastrointestinal Sciences
This article is part of the Research TopicKey Topics in Integrative Physiology - Consolidating Whole-Body Physiology Using Cutting-Edge KnowledgeView all articles
Potassium-competitive acid blockers and advances in the management of patients with acid-related diseases: A narrative review
Provisionally accepted
- 1Department of Gastroenterology, Beijing Friendship Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China
- 2Department of Gastroenterology, State Key Laboratory of Digestive Health, Beijing, China
- 3Department of Gastroenterology, National Clinical Research Center for Digestive Disease; Beijing Key Laboratory of Early Gastrointestinal Cancer Medicine and Medical Devices, Beijing, China
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Traditional management of acid-related diseases, including gastroesophageal reflux disease, Helicobacter pylori infection, and peptic ulcer disease, primarily relies on proton pump inhibitors, which have notable limitations in acid suppression efficacy that hinder optimal treatment outcomes. Potassium-competitive acid blockers offer a novel approach with improved pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic properties, enhancing acid suppression and clinical efficacy in acid-related disease management. This narrative review evaluates the role of potassium-competitive acid blockers in acid-related disease management, comparing the pharmacokinetic, pharmacodynamic, clinical efficacy, and safety profiles of currently available agents. A comprehensive literature search from January 2002 to June 2024 was conducted across multiple databases to gather data on the efficacy and safety of potassium-competitive acid blockers. Potassium-competitive acid blockers showed comparable or superior clinical efficacy and generally comparable safety in various clinical settings vs. comparator proton pump inhibitors, particularly in managing erosive esophagitis, H. pylori eradication, and peptic ulcer disease. Potassium-competitive acid blockers, of which vonoprazan is the most well studied, offer comparable or improved therapeutic outcomes over traditional proton pump inhibitors, making them a valid option for several acid-related disease indications.
Keywords: Potassium-competitive acid blockers, Gastroesophageal reflux disease, Helicobacter pylori eradication, peptic ulcer disease, Narrative review
Received: 27 Jun 2025; Accepted: 21 Nov 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Qiao and Li. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Peng Li, lipeng@ccmu.edu.cn
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