Pitolisant
Pitolisant
Main page

Pitolisant

logo
Community Hub0 subscribers
What are your thoughts?
Be the first to start a discussion here.
Be the first to start a discussion here.
Pitolisant

Pitolisant, sold under the brand name Wakix among others, is a medication used for the treatment of excessive daytime sleepiness in adults with narcolepsy. It is an inverse agonist of the histamine H3 receptor. It represents the first commercially available medication in its class, so that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) declares it a first-in-class medication. Pitolisant enhances the activity of histaminergic neurons in the brain that function to improve a person's wakefulness. It was approved by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) in March 2016 for narcolepsy with or without cataplexy, and for excessive daytime sleepiness by the FDA in August 2019. The most common side effects include difficulty sleeping, nausea, and feeling worried.

Pitolisant is indicated in adults for the treatment of narcolepsy. Narcolepsy is a chronic sleep disorder that causes overwhelming daytime drowsiness. Pitolisant is also indicated to improve alertness and reduce excessive daytime sleepiness in adults with obstructive sleep apnea.

The most common side effects include insomnia, headache, nausea, anxiety, irritability, dizziness, depression, tremor, sleep disorders, tiredness, vomiting, vertigo, dyspepsia, and heartburn. Rare but serious side effects are abnormal weight loss and spontaneous abortion.

Pitolisant is an inverse agonist of the histamine H3 autoreceptor. The H3 autoreceptors regulate histaminergic activity in the central nervous system (and to a lesser extent, the peripheral nervous system) by inhibiting histamine synthesis and release upon binding to endogenous histamine. By preventing the binding of endogenous histamine at the H3, as well as producing a response opposite to that of endogenous histamine at the receptor (inverse agonism), pitolisant enhances histaminergic activity in the brain.

Pitolisant is a drug that belongs to the class of central nervous system (CNS) stimulants. Pitolisant is also considered a eugeroic, which means that it promotes wakefulness and alertness. Eugeroics are different from traditional CNS stimulants such as amphetamine in that they have fewer side effects and lower abuse potential. Pitolisant is the first eugeroic drug that acts by blocking the histamine H3 autoreceptor, which increases the activity of histamine neurons in the brain. Pitolisant has been shown to be effective and well-tolerated for the treatment of narcolepsy with or without cataplexy.

Pitolisant has been demonstrated to exhibit high affinity for sigma-1 and sigma-2 receptors, as well as moderate affinity for 5-HT2A and D3 receptors. There exist conflicting findings relating the intrinsic activity of pitolisant at the 5-HT2A receptor.

Pharmacokinetics

Pitolisant is readily absorbed when taken by mouth and reaches peak blood concentrations approximately 3 hours after administration. The biological half-life of Pitolisant ranges from 10 to 12 hours.

See all
User Avatar
No comments yet.