Treatment Improves Narcolepsy Symptoms, Reduces Medication Consumption

Pitolisant improved symptoms in patients with type 1 narcolepsy who did not respond to or tolerate previous narcolepsy treatment, according to a real-world study published in Revue Neurologique.

“Type 1 narcolepsy is a disabling disease that requires continuous treatment, which is not always effective,” wrote a research team from Spain. “Pitolisant is a new drug with a different mechanism of action that offers a new treatment option.”

The multicenter observational study described the response to pitolisant among 32 patients, average age 44, with type 1 narcolepsy who did not respond to or could not tolerate previous treatment and subsequently started treatment with pitolisant.

The average score on the Epworth Sleepiness Scale decreased from 17.1 to 13.5 after stabilization of treatment with pitolisant, according to the study. Nearly two-thirds of patients demonstrated clinical global impression improvement per physician and patient discretion, and 47.8% of the patients showed improvement in cataplexy. Additionally, the average number of medications decreased from 2.0 to 1.4.

Insomnia, which occurred in 43.8% of patients, was the most common adverse event, researchers reported.

Overall, 23 of the 32 patients continued treatment over a 3-month follow-up.

“In patients with type 1 narcolepsy who do not respond to or do not tolerate the available treatments, pitolisant can improve their clinical situation and reduce their medication consumption,” researchers wrote. “Studies with a higher level of evidence are needed to confirm these results.”

Reference:
Del Río-Villegas R, Martínez-Orozco FJ, Romero-Santo Tomás O, Yébenes-Cortés M, Gómez-Barrera M, Gaig-Ventura C. Estudio WAKE de vida real en pacientes con narcolepsia con cataplejía tratados con pitolisant no respondedores a tratamientos previos (Real-life WAKE study in narcolepsy patients with cataplexy treated with pitolisant and unresponsive to previous treatments). Rev Neurol. 2022;75(7):165-171. doi:10.33588/rn.7507.2022090