Taking the antipsychotic drug olanzapine in conjunction with conventional anti-vomiting medicine can help reduce nausea in cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy, according to a new study published in the New England Journal of Medicine.
Researchers at the Indiana University School of Medicine in South Bend compared the effects of olanzapine and a placebo on 380 cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy. In the first 24 hours after chemotherapy, 74 percent of patients taking the drug reported no nausea symptoms, compared to 45 percent of patients on the placebo.
By the end of the five-day chemotherapy treatment period, 37 percent of patients taking olanzapine experienced no nausea, compared to 22 percent of those taking a placebo.
While existing drugs are successful at preventing vomiting, there is not an effective anti-nausea treatment currently on the market, said Rudolph Navari, MD, PhD, lead author of the study, in a Reuters report.
Olanzapine, which is available in a generic form, costs about $2 for five days of treatment.
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