Treat the Symptom, Not the Cause? Pitolisant for Sleepiness in Obstructive Sleep Apnea

Trotti discusses the study by Dauvilliers and colleagues on the use of pitolisant for sleepiness in people with obstructive sleep apnea who refuse first-line treatment with continuous positive airway pressure. This industry-sponsored trial randomized 268 people with OSA and an average apnea-hypopnea...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:American journal of respiratory and critical care medicine 2020-05, Vol.201 (9), p.1033-1035
Main Author: Trotti, Lynn Marie
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Clinical trials
Placebo effect
Sleep
Sleep apnea
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Summary:Trotti discusses the study by Dauvilliers and colleagues on the use of pitolisant for sleepiness in people with obstructive sleep apnea who refuse first-line treatment with continuous positive airway pressure. This industry-sponsored trial randomized 268 people with OSA and an average apnea-hypopnea index (AHI) of 49, half of whom had comorbid cardiovascular disease, to pitolisant or placebo in a 3:1 ratio. The results revealed that pitolisant was significantly better than placebo at reducing subjective sleepiness. It was also well tolerated, with similar rates of treatment-related adverse events observed for pitolisant and placebo, and only rare prolongation of QT intervals.
ISSN:1073-449X
1535-4970
DOI:10.1164/rccm.202001-0104ED