New Findings On Morning Sickness Treatment Presented At Society For Maternal-Fetal Medicine Annual Pregnancy Meeting

Date: Feb-18-2013Early use of Diclectin(R) reduces the severity of nausea and vomiting of pregnancy
(NVP) symptoms in pregnant women who had severe NVP in a previous pregnancy

Duchesnay Inc. announced results from a
new study concluding that pre-emptive use of Diclectin(R) (a delayed-release combination
of 10 mg doxylamine and 10 mg pyridoxine) is effective in reducing symptoms of severe NVP
in patients at high risk for recurrence of severe NVP. The study was conducted by Gideon
Koren, M.D., and Caroline Maltepe, B.A., of The Motherisk Program, Division of Clinical
Pharmacology and Toxicology, Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, Ontario. Data were
presented in an oral abstract in San Francisco, California on February 14, 2013 during the
Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine's Annual meeting 'The Pregnancy Meeting', and will be
published in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology[1].

The randomized, controlled study recruited pregnant women who had experienced severe
NVP or hyperemesis gravidarum (HG) - an extreme form of morning sickness - in a previous
pregnancy. These women were instructed either to start using Diclectin(R) before NVP
symptoms appeared (the pre-emptive group), or to start Diclectin(R) at the first sign of
NVP symptoms (the control group). The severity of NVP symptoms was compared between the
two groups.

Results demonstrate that women who started using Diclectin(R) before NVP symptoms
began had significantly reduced symptoms of severe NVP compared to women who only started
Diclectin(R) when NVP symptoms appeared. In the pre-emptive group, there were 70% fewer
cases of moderate-to-severe NVP compared to the control group during the 3 first weeks of
NVP (p=0.05). Pre-emptive use of Diclectin(R) was also found to decrease the recurrence of
HG in women with a previous history of HG (p=0.047).

"Women with NVP commonly report feeling unsupported by the medical community, and many physicians and pharmacists are hesitant to prescribe anti-emetics to pregnant women," said
lead researcher Dr. Gideon Koren. "These new, important data continue to prove that NVP is
a serious medical condition, and drive awareness of safe and effective treatment options
to alleviate NVP symptoms and possibly prevent extreme cases of hyperemesis gravidarum."

The delayed release combination of 10 mg doxylamine and 10 mg pyridoxine
(Diclectin(R), Duchesnay, Inc.) is labeled in Canada specifically for NVP, and has been
shown to be safe and effective in more than 200,000 pregnant women.[2],[3]

About the Motherisk Program

The Motherisk Program is a clinical, research
and teaching program dedicated to drug, chemical, and disease risk counselling in
pregnancy. Motherisk provides evidence-based information and guidance about the safety or
risk to the developing fetus or infant, of maternal exposure to drugs, chemicals,
diseases, radiation and environmental agents. The program maintains several Helplines, one
of which is the toll-free NVP Helpline which was created to improve the management of NVP.

About NVP and HG

Nausea and vomiting of pregnancy, or morning sickness, affects up to 85% of pregnant
women, with symptoms that range from nausea to severe vomiting and retching.[4] More than
half of pregnant women report daily episodes of vomiting.[3] For most pregnant women,
symptoms generally decrease between 12-16 weeks gestation.[5] However, some women can
experience symptoms throughout their pregnancy,[3],[4] and 40% of women experience
symptoms severe enough to interfere with their lifestyle.[3] Although NVP is not usually a
life-threatening medical condition, if left untreated, it may progress to HG.[1] HG occurs
in up to 3% of pregnant women and may require hospitalization to care for nutritional
deficiency, weight loss, and fluid, electrolyte and acid-based imbalances.[1],[6] The
American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) advocates that early treatment
of NVP may prevent the escalation of symptoms that lead to HG.[7]

Courtesy: Medical News Today Note: Any medical information available in this news section is not intended as a substitute for informed medical advice and you should not take any action before consulting with a health care professional.