Dry cough lasting more than eight weeks is considered chronic. It is believed that from 4 to 10% of the world’s population suffers from chronic cough. Many of these people cough for several years several thousand times a day. The exact causes of this persistent cough remain unknown in most cases. Currently, an effective treatment for chronic cough does not exist, and over-the-counter cough syrups and other means to relieve a sore throat sold in pharmacies practically do not help.
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In most cases, people suffering from persistent dry cough have hypersensitivity to the vagus nerve, which responds to the slightest irritation of cough receptors in the mucous membrane of the throat and respiratory tract. The nerve transmits appropriate signals to the cough center of the brain. The use of drugs that suppress the excitability of the cough center, such as codeine and its substitute dextromethorphan, is legislatively limited in Russia due to their psychotropic properties.
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Scientists from the University of Manchester (Great Britain) and the pharmaceutical company Afferent Pharmaceuticals have developed the drug gefapiksant, which suppresses the cough reflex, but, in small doses, does not cause side effects, including psychotropic ones. Two successful clinical trials of the drug have already been conducted.
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In the first of them, the results of which are published in the journal Lancet respiratory medicine, involved 253 patients suffering from chronic cough, some of whom received various doses of gefapiksanta per day for 12 weeks, and part – placebo. Neither the doctors who tested nor the patients knew who was taking which pills.
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As a result, it was found that 80% of patients responded to the drug. Participants taking 50 mg of gefapiksant a day, the frequency of coughing decreased by 67%. At the same time, interestingly, those who took a placebo also began to cough less often, their cough rate fell by 30%. The second clinical trial, the results of which were published in the journal European Respiratory Journal, showed that it effectively reduces the frequency of coughing and a lower dose of the drug, 30 mg per day.
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Now the gefapixant is waiting for two other, more ambitious, clinical trials involving more than 1800 people, which must confirm the effectiveness and safety of the drug so that it can obtain a license to enter the market. It is expected that the test results will be known until the end of 2020.
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