Product name: Polyethylene glycol 2000

CAS: 25322-68-3

Description: Polyethylene glycol (PEG) is a polyether compound with many applications from industrial manufacturing to medicine.

PEG is the basis of a number of laxatives (e.g., macrogol-containing products, such as Movicol and polyethylene glycol 3350, or SoftLax, MiraLAX,ClearLAX, or GlycoLax). Whole bowel irrigation with polyethylene glycol and added electrolytes is used for bowel preparation before surgery or colonoscopy. The preparation is sold under the brand names GoLYTELY, GaviLyte C, NuLytely, GlycoLax, Fortrans, TriLyte, Colyte, Halflytely, Softlax, Lax-a-Day, ClearLax and MoviPrep. In theUnited States, MiraLAX and Dulcolax Balance are sold without prescription for short-term relief of chronic constipation. Miralax is currently FDA approved for adults for a period of seven days, and is not approved for children. A 2007 comparison showed that patients suffering from constipation had a better response to PEG medications than to tegaserod. These medications soften the fecal mass by osmotically drawing water into the GI tract. It is generally well tolerated, however, side effects are possible bloating, nausea, gas, and diarrhea (with excessive use).

When attached to various protein medications, polyethylene glycol allows a slowed clearance of the carried protein from the blood. This makes for a longer-acting medicinal effect and reduces toxicity, and allows longer dosing intervals. Examples include PEG-interferon alpha, which is used to treat hepatitis C, and PEGfilgrastim (Neulasta), which is used to treat neutropenia. It has been shown that polyethylene glycol can improve healing of spinal injuries in dogs. One of the earlier findings, that polyethylene glycol can aid in nerve repair, came from theUniversityofTexas(Krause and Bittner).[9] Polyethylene glycol is also commonly used to fuse B-cells with myeloma cells in monoclonal antibody production.