text: Although the drugs omeprazole, lansoprazole, pantoprazole, and rabeprazole share common structure and mode of action, each differs somewhat in its clinical pharmacology.
  Differing pyridine and benzimidazole substituents result in small, but potentially significant different physical and chemical properties.
  Direct comparison of pantoprazole sodium with other anti-secretory drugs showed that it was significantly more effective than H-receptor antagonists and either equivalent or better than other clinically used PPIs. Another study states rabeprazole undergoes activation over a greater pH range than omeprazole, lansoprazole, and pantoprazole, and converts to the sulphenamide form more rapidly than any of these three drugs.
  Most oral PPI preparations are enteric-coated, due to the rapid degradation of the drugs in the acidic conditions of the stomach. For example omeprazole is unstable in acid with a half-life of 2 min at pH 1–3, but is significantly more stable at pH 7 (half-life ca. 20 h).
  The acid protective coating prevents conversion to the active principle in the lumen of the stomach, which then will react with any available sulfhydryl group in food and will not penetrate to the lumen of the secretory canaliculus
  The oral bioavailability of PPIs is high; 77% for pantoprazole, 80–90% for lansoprazole and 89% for esomeprazole. All the PPIs except tenatoprazole are rapidly metabolized in the liver by CYP enzymes, mostly by CYP2C19 and CYP3A4. PPIs are sensitive to CYP enzymes and have different pharmacokinetic profiles. Studies comparing the efficacy of PPIs indicate that esomeprazole and tenatoprazole have stronger acid suppression, with a longer period of intragastric pH (pH &gt; 4).
  Studies of the effect of tenatoprazole on acid secretion in in vivo animal models, such as pylorus-ligated rats and acute gastric fistula rats, demonstrated a 2- to 4-fold more potent inhibitory activity compared with omeprazole. A more potent inhibitory activity was also shown in several models of induced gastric lesions. In Asian as well as Caucasian healthy subjects, tenatoprazole exhibited a seven-fold longer half-life than the existing H/K ATPase inhibitors. It is thus hypothesized that a longer half-life results in a more prolonged inhibition of gastric acid secretion, especially during the night.
  A strong relationship has been stated between the degree and duration of gastric acid inhibition, as measured by monitoring of the 24-hour intragastric pH in pharmacodynamic studies, and the rate of healing and symptom relief reported.
  A clinical study showed that nocturnal acid breakthrough duration was significantly shorter for 40 mg of tenatoprazole than for 40 mg of esomeprazole, with the conclusion that tenatoprazole was significantly more potent than esomeprazole during the night. Although, the therapeutic relevance of this pharmacological advantage deserves further study.
  PPIs have been used successfully in triple-therapy regiments with clarithromycin and amoxicillin for the eradication of Helicobacter pylori with no significant difference between different PPI-based regimens.