(HealthDay News) — Investigational etripamil nasal spray is well tolerated for self-treating recurrent episodes of paroxysmal supraventricular tachycardia (PSVT) without medical supervision, according to a study published online in the Journal of the American Heart Association.
James E. Ip, MD, from Weill Cornell Medicine and the NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital in New York City, and colleagues conducted an open-label extension of the phase 3 NODE-301 to assess the safety and efficacy of the L‐type calcium channel blocker etripamil. The analysis included 105 patients who were monitored via a self-applied cardiac monitoring system for 5 hours after etripamil self-administration for PSVT.
The researchers found that during a median 232 days of follow-up, the probability of conversion within 30 minutes of etripamil was 60.2% (median time to conversion, 15.5 minutes) among 188 PSVT episodes (92 patients) positively adjudicated as atrioventricular nodal-dependent by independent electrocardiogram analysis. Forty patients self-treated two PSVT episodes, and among these participants, three-quarters had a significantly consistent response by 30 minutes, 9 did not convert on either episode, and 21 converted on both episodes. Treatment-emergent adverse events occurred in 42.9% of patients, which were generally transient and mild-to-moderate (eg, nasal congestion [14.3%], nasal discomfort [14.3%], or rhinorrhea [12.4%]). Within 24 hours of etripamil self-administration, no serious cardiac safety events were seen.
Continue Reading
“This is a potential new and exciting option for patients to safely self-treat their rapid heartbeat without direct medical supervision to avoid emergency room visits and medical interventions,” Ip said in a statement.
Several authors disclosed ties to pharmaceutical companies, including Milestone Pharmaceuticals, which manufactures etripamil and funded the study.