#dr. mignot

[narnetblogger]

Narcolepsy Network’s Annual Conference- Register Now! Meet other people with narcolepsy, learn about narcolepsy treatments, hear the latest research, have fun. Keynote speaker is Dr. Mignot, and there is a track especially for Youth, Kids and Young Adults. www.narcolepsynetwork.org 

[narnetblogger]

SLEEP meeting 2015

Updates from SLEEP 2015

I returned from the big meeting of sleep professionals in (surprisingly) sunny Seattle a couple of weeks ago and I have some interesting news about a potential new treatment option for narcolepsy. It’s still in clinical trials, so not available to the public yet, but the results look promising. Fair warning, this post is going to have a lot of research in it, so if you don’t want to read through a lot of that, here’s a basic summary: Jazz Pharmaceuticals has a new medication they are testing called JZP-110 and results from clinical trials seem to indicate that it is really effective for Excessive Daytime Sleepiness, possibly better that Provigil/Nuvigil, and so far they aren’t seeing a lot of side effects. So good news and a potential new EDS treatment that will hopefully hit the market in the next couple of years.

Now on to a slightly more detailed report.

The compound JZP-110, owned by Jazz Pharmaceuticals, is in stage 3 clinical trials for the treatment of narcolepsy. Dr. Lawrence Scrima and several other researchers presented a poster (“Patient Global Impression of Change Correlates With Global Impression of Change in a Clinical Trial of JZP-110 for the Treatment of Narcolepsy”) on the results from the clinical trials at SLEEP 2015.

Basically, the study looked at patients with narcolepsy and their EDS symptoms. One group was given JZP-110, while another group was given a placebo. The researchers then looked looked at objective clinical data, like patients’ scores on the Maintenance of Wakefulness Test, and subjective, self-reported, data from patients, like their scores on the Epworth Sleepiness Scale.

During the 12 week study, patients taking JZP-110 reported significantly more improvement on both types of measurement (Clinical and patient-reported), than those taking the placebo. 93% of patients taking taking JZP-110 reported at least “minimally improved” EDS, and the clinical data showed at 86% of the JZP-110 group were at least “minimally improved” (these percentages include all patients who experienced any improvements).

I spoke briefly with Dr. Scrima, a member of the NN Medical Advisory Board, and he said that JZP-110 is a very promising new treatment option with few side effects being reported. It is another “non-traditional” stimulant, like Nuvigil/Provigil (armodafinil/modafinil), so it has the potential to offer new treatment options for people who can’t take the traditional stimulants (amphetamines, methylphenidate, etc.) and are not satisfied with modafinil/armodafinil. There are still more clinical trials and regulatory hoops JZP-110  has to get through before it will be available to patients, but it is worth keeping an eye on it’s progress as new treatment options are always welcome.

More on SLEEP 2015:

Executive Director Eveline Honig and Communications Director Karen Rorie also attended the meeting as did several Board members and most of our medical advisory board. Narcolepsy Network had an exhibitor’s booth at the meeting where we passed out information about narcolepsy and about the Network to hundreds of people, most of them sleep medicine professionals. We also had some interesting meetings with our medical advisory board and Jazz Pharmaceuticals, attended a presentation by Dr. Emmanuel Mignot, and gathered a lot of great information about narcolepsy. You can find out more about the narcolepsy news from SLEEP 2015 in the next member newsletter! The newsletter is one of the many great benefits of being an NN member.  If you’re not a member, you can join at narcolepsynetwork.org.