August 23, 2006 - Today, the Foundation for Clinical Research in Inflammatory Bowel Disease announced that it awarded a clinical research grant to the University of Louisville Foundation in Louisville, Ky., to study whether switching from smoking cigarettes to a smokeless tobacco product will help Crohn’s disease patients previously unable to stop smoking reduce their dependence on cigarettes and improve their Crohn’s disease symptoms.

“We believe that clinical research is essential to understanding and managing IBD,” said Jane Present, co-founder and executive director of the Foundation for Clinical Research in IBD. “Cigarette smoking continues to be a difficult problem, especially for those who suffer with Crohn’s disease. Through our Clinical Research Grants, we are delighted to support this grant at the University of Louisville to research new a method that may help these patients quit smoking and improve their overall quality of life.”

Studies show that cigarette smoking worsens the symptoms of Crohn’s disease. In addition, cigarette smokers who have Crohn’s disease are less responsive to treatment and are more likely to have their disease recur after surgery than non-cigarette smokers. Despite these realities, smoking cessation remains difficult for most Crohn’s disease patients who smoke cigarettes. Therefore this new study is designed to study the effects of substituting a smokeless tobacco product for cigarette smoking on Crohn’s disease patients who have been unable to quit. Susan Galandiuk, MD, professor of surgery at the University of Louisville, will serve as one of the study’s principle investigators.

Crohn’s disease, one of the diseases that collectively are known as IBD, affects over five hundred thousand Americans and is a chronic, life-long disease that has no known cause or cure.

The Foundation for Clinical Research in IBD is a non-profit organization that is dedicated to providing continued support to the IBD professional community, encouraging and enabling continued clinical research into IBD and its treatments and supporting patients and their families through education.