DCAL uncovers treatment for vitamin D deficiency

Dishman Carbogen Amcis Ltd announces successful results from the partnership with Boston University School of Medicine

Ahmedabad-based Dishman Carbogen Amcis Limited, a global outsourcing partner for the pharmaceutical industry, welcomes the results of a new study that provides critical insights into the treatment of vitamin D deficiency in obesity and in fat malabsorption syndromes.

The research was conducted by Boston University School of Medicine and supported in part by a grant from Dishman Carbogen Amcis Ltd’s wholly owned subsidiary CARBOGEN AMCIS B.V.

DCAL partnered with Dr. Michael Holick, MD, PhD, professor of medicine, physiology and biophysics and molecular medicine at Boston University School of Medicine, to determine whether alternative vitamin D-type substances provide significant health benefits in people suffering with impaired distribution and metabolism of vitamin D.

The study results will benefit obese people and, e.g., patients who have undergone gastric bypass surgery, which quite generally results in vitamin D malabsorption. Thus, those patients run an elevated risk of bone diseases like osteoporosis and osteomalacia due to softening of the bones.

Researchers observed that a form of vitamin D, known as 25-hydroxyvitamin D3 (Calcifediol), was absorbed faster and better than the same dose of vitamin D. 

“This vitamin D metabolite is better absorbed in patients with fat malabsorption syndromes and since it is not as fat soluble, it does not get diluted in the body fat and is effective in raising and maintaining blood levels,” said Dr. Michael Holick. “Therefore, using 25-hydroxyvitamin D3 could be a novel approach for treating vitamin D deficiency in patients with fat malabsorption syndromes.”

CARBOGEN AMCIS B.V. provided the 25-hydroxyvitamin D3 capsules, which were produced at its parent company Dishman Carbogen Amcis Limited’s Bavla facility in Ahmedabad, specifically for this study, thus becoming yet another global project for DCAL.