Treatment of inflammatory bowel disease

Abstract

Patients suffering from inflammatory bowel disease such as Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis are treated either orally or intravenously with methylol transfer agents, such as taurolidine and/or taurultam. These agents can be used in combination with other drugs thereby allowing the use of smaller amounts of the other drugs and limiting unwanted side effects.

What is claimed is:  
     
         1 . A method of treating inflammatory bowel disease in a patient comprising administering to said patient an effective amount of a methylol transfer agent so as to reduce systems of inflammatory bowel disease in said patient.  
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1  wherein said agent is selected from the group consisting of taurolidine, taurultam and mixtures thereof.  
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1  wherein said agent is orally administered to said patient.  
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 3  wherein taurolidine is administered to said patient at an oral dose of about 100-1000 mg.  
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 4  wherein said taurolidine is administered to said patient daily.  
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 5  wherein about 20 g of said taurolidine is administered to said patient daily.  
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1  wherein said agent is administered intravenously to said patient.  
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1  wherein said inflammatory bowel disease is Crohn's disease.  
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1  wherein said inflammatory bowel disease is ulcerative colitis.  
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1  wherein a drug in addition to said methylol transfer agent is administered to said patient.