The purpose of the study is to determine whether a maintenance treatment over 12 weeks with
esomeprazole 20 mg daily will sufficiently give control over GERD symptoms and how it
compares either with an on-demand therapy with esomeprazole 20 mg or an as needed therapy
(wait and see regimen) with rescue medication only (antacid), following a 4-weeks acute
treatment phase with either esomeprazole 20 mg or esomeprazole 40 mg.