Cancer patients will soon able to use a medication patch to
ease the debilitating nausea that often accompanies chemotherapy.
The Food and Drug Administration said Monday it has approved
the first anti-nausea patch for chemotherapy patients, intended to provide
relief for up to five days.
The patch, called Sancuso, is worn on the arm and delivers a
widely used anti-nausea medicine, known as granisetron,
through the skin. It is expected to be available by the end of the year.
“It will be another way that we can address nausea and
vomiting, coming from a route that we haven’t had before,” said nurse
practitioner Barbara Rogers, who specializes in cancer treatment. “The patch is
nice option.”
Rogers, who works at Fox
Chase Cancer
Center in Philadelphia, is also a consultant to
ProStrakan, the Scottish company that developed the patch.
About a million people undergo chemotherapy ever year and as
many as 70 percent develop nausea.
If the problem occurs at the hospital, it can be dealt with
immediately. But many patients suffer from nausea after being sent home.
Anti-nausea pills are available, but some cancer patients have difficulty
swallowing.
“The main benefit will be for people who have difficulty
taking oral medications,” Rogers
said.
But other patients could also benefit, she added, since a
single patch is designed to maintain a steady level of the anti-nausea medicine
in the body for several days.
These days, medical professionals treating cancer patients
are trying to eliminate nausea as a side effect of chemotherapy, believing that
will help the patients maintain physical strength and emotional energy.
