Open Access<p>Pitolisant to Treat Excessive Daytime Sleepiness and Cataplexy in Adults with Narcolepsy: Rationale and Clinical Utility</p>
Author(s) -
Jay T Guevarra,
Robert Hiensch,
Andrew Varga,
David M. Rapoport
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
nature and science of sleep
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.715
H-Index - 34
ISSN - 1179-1608
DOI - 10.2147/nss.s264140
Subject(s) - cataplexy , narcolepsy , medicine , excessive daytime sleepiness , sleep paralysis , wakefulness , tolerability , anesthesia , modafinil , sleep disorder , adverse effect , insomnia , pediatrics , psychiatry , electroencephalography
Narcolepsy is a sleep disorder marked by chronic, debilitating excessive daytime sleepiness and can be associated with cataplexy, sleep paralysis and sleep-related hallucinations. Pharmacological therapy for narcolepsy primarily aims to increase wakefulness and reduce cataplexy attacks. Pitolisant is a first-in-class agent utilizing histamine to improve wakefulness by acting as an antagonist/inverse agonist of the presynaptic histamine 3 receptor. This review summarizes the clinical efficacy, safety and tolerability of pitolisant in treating the symptoms of narcolepsy. Randomized and observational studies demonstrate pitolisant to be effective in treating both hypersomnolence and cataplexy while generally being well tolerated at prescribed doses. The most common adverse reactions include headache, insomnia and nausea.