Pitolisant.PNG (139.86 kB)

Pitolisant: A Review in Narcolepsy with or without Cataplexy

online resource

posted on 2020-01-30, 22:20 authored by Yvette Lamb

Compliance with Ethical Standards

Funding: The preparation of this review was not supported by any external funding.

Conflict of interest: Yvette Lamb is a salaried employee of Adis International Ltd/Springer Nature, is responsible for the article content and declares no relevant conflicts of interest.

Additional information about this Adis Drug Review can be found here

Abstract

Pitolisant (Wakix^®), an orally available, first-in-class antagonist/inverse agonist of the histamine 3 receptor, is approved in the EU (as of March 2016) for the treatment of narcolepsy with or without cataplexy in adults and in the USA (as of August 2019) for the treatment of excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS) in adults with narcolepsy. Pitolisant was demonstrated to have minimal risk of abuse in preclinical and clinical studies, and is the only anti-narcoleptic drug not scheduled as a controlled substance in the USA. The totality of evidence from pivotal and supportive phase III trials suggests that pitolisant administered at up to the recommended maximum dose of 36 mg once daily reduces EDS and cataplexy in adults with narcolepsy
relative to placebo. Noninferiority of pitolisant to modafinil in the management of EDS was not demonstrated. Pitolisant was generally well tolerated in clinical trials. Consistent with its mechanism of action, the most common treatment-emergent adverse events included headache, insomnia and anxiety. With minimal abuse potential and offering the convenience of oral, once-daily administration, pitolisant extends the range of approved treatment options available to adult patients with narcolepsy with or without cataplexy.