Researchers from Istituto Auxologico Italiano and Brigham and Women’s Hospital presented data on Apnimed’s investigational treatment for obstructive sleep apnea, AD128, at the American Thoracic Society (ATS) Meeting, taking place from May 14-19, 2021. The data presented confirm and expand upon prior research by Apnimed and its affiliates demonstrating the potential of pharmacotherapy to treat obstructive sleep apnea (OSA).
“These data reinforce that combining a norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor and a selective antimuscarinic is a promising new oral treatment approach for patients with OSA,” says Larry Miller, MD, CEO of Apnimed, in a release. “As we’re building a pipeline of treatments to address OSA and related disorders, we continue to evaluate different pharmacologic options to address the underlying biology of these life-altering and life-threatening sleep disorders. We also look forward to data from our most advanced program, AD109, in the coming months.”
The data were presented in an oral mini-symposium held May 17, 2021. In this study presented at ATS, researchers evaluated the effect on OSA of reboxetine plus oxybutynin. The administration of reboxetine plus oxybutynin before bedtime greatly decreased OSA severity and increased next-day vigilance (assessed with a psychomotor vigilance test) after 1 week of therapy. These results confirm and expand upon previous findings that the combination of noradrenergic and antimuscarinic agents is likely to be effective in OSA.
“Researchers have been exploring the potential of drug treatment options for the treatment of sleep apnea for years. We believe that these data reinforce the potential of pharmacotherapy in treating OSA,” says Elisa Perger, MD, principal investigator at Istituto Auxologico Italiano IRCCS in Milan, Italy, in a release. “Today patients are restricted to mechanical or surgical treatments or pharmacologic therapies that only address the symptoms. In our study, the administration of reboxetine plus oxybutynin before bedtime greatly decreased OSA severity over one week, demonstrating the ability of an oral drug which addresses the underlying cause of the disease.”
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