7 Promising Celiac Disease Treatment Options (Vaccines, Medications & Supplements)

Celiac disease is an incurable autoimmune disease with few treatment options beyond the gluten-free diet. However, there are a few treatment options on the horizon, as well as some medications and supplements that are being tested that promise to help people manage their symptoms when they are accidentally or inadvertently exposed to gluten. The information presented in this article is for discussion purposes only and contains affiliate links. Please read my disclaimers.

Celiac disease is a genetic, autoimmune disease that affects 1 in 100 people worldwide and more than three million people in the U.S.

The only treatment option for celiac disease is a lifelong strict gluten-free diet, which is extremely burdensome and can lead to hypervigilance and mental anguish.

Gluten, a protein found in wheat, rye, and barley, is hidden in many foods, and in many cases, eating at restaurants and traveling can put the health of a person with celiac disease at risk of getting sick.

Unfortunately, there are no current treatment options for celiac disease outside of a gluten-free diet; however, there is a promising vaccine, as well as several clinical trials, all of which promise to help people manage the symptoms associated with ingesting gluten.

7 Promising Celiac Disease Treatments

In this article, I discuss seven promising celiac disease treatment options on the horizon, including medications, vaccines, and supplements that are currently being tested to help people with celiac disease.

(1) Inverse Vaccine for Celiac Disease – MOST PROMISING

Researchers at the University of Chicago’s Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering say they may have figured out how to reverse autoimmune disease.

While it’s widely known that a regular vaccine teaches the immune system to recognize and react to a virus that should be attacked, these researchers developed an inverse vaccine that does the opposite.

The inverse vaccine removes the immune system’s memory of a molecule, preventing it from attacking otherwise healthy tissue, which is what happens in people with autoimmune diseases.

The inverse vaccine has been tested in Phase I clinical trials for celiac disease and is being tested in other autoimmune diseases as of September 2023. This is the most promising treatment option on the horizon.

(2) The LILY Celiac Disease Study

Phase I clinical trials are underway for a promising new celiac disease treatment known as DONQ52, which is a monoclonal antibody that inhibits the immune system from reacting to gluten and leading to intestinal damage.

A pre-clinical trial study found the drug to be effective in blocking gluten-specific T-cells. Learn more about how you can participate in the LILY Study.

(3) Larazotide Acetate to Inhibit Zonolin Production

Larazotide acetate is a medication that entered into Phase III clinical trials. It promised to be one of the first celiac disease treatment options of its kind.

Unfortunately, researchers discontinued Phase III clinical trials in June 2022 after results from a 12-week double-blind treatment phase and an additional 12-week continued safety phase did not show that larazotide was effective.

Researchers thought that larazotide acetate might work by inhibiting zonulin production, which is overproduced by celiac patients after they eat gluten.

While the research was promising, Phase III trials proved it did not inhibit the production of zonulin when a person with celiac disease took the drug before a meal.

(4) Nexvax2® Vaccine – DISCONTINUED

Nexvax2® was a potential vaccine that promised to help celiac disease patients build resistance to gluten, similar to how an allergy shot works.

Unfortunately, in June 2019, researchers discontinued the Nexvax2 trial because the results showed the vaccine did not provide protection from gluten exposure when compared to placebo. (Source: Beyond Celiac)

(5) Latiglutenase (formerly known as ALV003 or ImmunogenX)

Latiglutenase has been shown to reduce intestinal mucosal damage caused by gluten. It’s a combination of two enzymes that complement one another to break down and degrade gluten proteins inside the stomach and cause fewer symptoms and/or damage.

ImmunogenX completed Phase 2 of its study, called CeliacShield, where researchers set out to determine the drug’s effectiveness in a general population of celiac disease patients.

In Phase 2, 25 participants with celiac disease on a gluten-free diet were given 1,200 mg of latiglutenase each day for six weeks; another 25 participants were given a placebo.

Researchers found those who received latiglutenase experienced 88 percent less damage to the upper portion of their small intestinal lining than those on the placebo. You can read the full Phase 2 study results in this article.

In 2022, under the guidance of Dr. Joseph Murray at the Mayo Clinic, researchers confirmed that latiglutenase protects patients from mucosal damage caused by gluten.

Researchers also found that the drug protected patients from adverse clinical effects of gluten consumption and is 95 percent effective at eliminating gluten in the stomach.

This promising celiac disease treatment option may be able to help people with celiac disease prevent their bodies from activating an autoimmune response when they eat small amounts of gluten despite their best efforts to follow a strict gluten-free diet.

More testing is needed to know if this drug will be effective and safe for celiac disease patients.

(6) Digestive Enzymes

There are several digestive enzymes that promise to help patients with celiac disease who accidentally ingest gluten.

AN-PEP (Aspergillus Niger prolyl endoprotease) is an enzyme used in GliadinX and other digestive enzymes and dietary supplements that researchers say will degrade gluten in the stomach. (Source: National Celiac Association)

KumaMax is another digestive enzyme designed to break down gluten in the digestive system. The drug is said to prevent painful symptoms and the intestinal damage that comes when a person with celiac disease is accidentally exposed to gluten.

KumaMax has the potential to degrade the gluten before it enters the small intestine, according to Takeda, a pharmaceutical company that has committed $35 million to the research and development of KumaMax. (Source: BioPharmaDive)

(7) Gliadin Nanoparticles

Researchers in Finland are studying how nanoparticles containing gliadin can work in treating – and maybe one day curing – celiac disease. Right now, there is no cure for celiac disease.

Researchers found gliadin-infused nanoparticles inserted into the blood of mice with celiac disease resulted in significantly reduced markers for gliadin-specific T cell activation, inflammation, and tissue damage.

In other words, injecting gliadin nanoparticles in patients with celiac disease may reprogram the immune system to tolerate gluten, potentially allowing people with celiac disease to eat gluten again without causing an autoimmune attack.

The research is fledgling yet promising. See details about the full study here.

(8) PRV-015 (anti-interleukin-15)

PRV-015 may soon be the first approved therapeutic for the treatment of non-responsive celiac disease. It is the first investigational study to show a reduction in (1) gluten-induced symptoms and (2) markers of intestinal inflammation in a placebo-controlled trial in celiac subjects.

Provention Bio, a biopharmaceutical company, says in a press release that it has initiated Phase 2b of its PROACTIVE (PROvention Amgen Celiac ProtecTIVE) study of PRV-015, an anti-interleukin-15 monoclonal antibody, in adult celiac patients not responding to a gluten-free diet.

You can read more about the trials in this press release.

Celiac Treatment Options Don’t Go Far Enough

Except for maybe the inverse vaccine, there isn’t a promising treatment for celiac disease on the horizon as of 2023.

Right now, the only treatment option for celiac disease is a strict gluten-free diet.

To get started on the gluten-free diet, read my article, Beginners Guide to Gluten Free and enroll in my SIGNATURE Gluten-Free Course.