Lost in the coverage are the IBS sufferers who depended on Zelnorm:

Some IBS patients say they have been calling the FDA asking for the drug’s return to market. Jeffrey Roberts, founder of the Irritable Bowel Syndrome Self Help and Support Group, says he is encouraging the Web-based organization’s 20,000 members to write to the FDA to complain.

Other patients are returning to the makeshift remedies they used with mixed success before Zelnorm became available in 2002, including taking fiber supplements and laxatives. Some patients have also expressed interest in probiotics, the dietary supplements that contain bacteria that can help smooth digestion. But doctors caution that there is limited evidence that the supplements are effective in IBS.