A sudden, rapid heart rate will send many to the emergency room. Every year, more than 140,000 emergency room visits are related to a specific type of increased heart rate called paroxysmal supraventricular tachycardia (PSVT). This troubled a group of cardiologists in the US and Canada who felt that was 140,000 too many.
PSVT is linked to various substances and disorders, including caffeine, cocaine, chronic lung disease, and heart conditions. Unfortunately, acute treatment options for PSVT episodes are limited, leaving patients with few choices when an episode occurs.
Current treatments, like calcium channel blockers and beta blockers, necessitate medical supervision for intravenous administration. Some patients carry pill forms of these medications as a "pill-in-pocket" strategy for acute treatment. However, the delayed onset of action and limited evidence of effectiveness and safety pose challenges to this approach.
Etripamil is a promising medication designed for nasal spray delivery. Phase 1 and 2 clinical trials suggest that etripamil nasal spray can efficiently cross the nasal mucosa, rapidly entering the bloodstream. Moreover, patients could perform this delivery method themselves.
Working towards a self-treatment option for PSVT, the recent phase 3 NODE-302 clinical study (Clinical trial number: NCT03635996) further demonstrated that etripamil nasal spray is an alternative to traditional pill-in-the-pocket strategies.
The double-blind and multicenter trial found that etripamil was well-tolerated with no serious adverse events reported. An impressive 97% of PSVT episodes showed successful treatment with just two sprays of etripamil. Patients experiencing intermittent rapid heartbeats saw their heart rhythms return to normal within 30 minutes of receiving the nasal spray treatment.
The findings published in the Journal of the American Heart Association present a paradigm shift, indicating that patients can safely and effectively administer multiple treatments for spontaneous PSVT without the intervention of medical professionals.
This groundbreaking research holds the potential to significantly cut the annual healthcare costs associated with PSVT, amounting to over $190 million. As research advances, etripamil nasal spray stands as a beacon of hope, offering a novel and efficient means to manage acute episodes of PSVT and improve the lives of those living with this condition.
Sources: Journal of the American Heart Association, National Library of Medicine, American Journal of Cardiovascular Drugs, EurekAlert!