Do the names Compazine, Phenergan or Zofran sound familiar to you? If you ever experienced terrible morning sickness from pregnancy, then your doctor may have prescribed one of these anti-nausea medications. However, neither of these medications are approved to be used to treat morning sickness.
Nevertheless, a new study put out by the New England Journal of Medicine offers a possibility for an anti-nausea drug to be approved for pregnant women in their first trimester.
Obstetricians are hesitant to prescribe medications to pregnant women if the effects on the fetus are unknown. This goes for anti-nausea medications as well. There have been two anti-nausea medications that have been pulled from the market because of resulting birth defects. In the late 1950s and 1960s, Thalidomide was used for morning sickness in Europe and Canada, but led to limb deformation. Another drug, Bendectin, was pulled in 1983 for similar problems.
However, the new study by Ilan Matok of Ben-Gurion University of the Neger may lead to a new option for pregnant women. The drug that was used in the study was metaclopramide, which is also known by the brand names Reglan, Octamide, and Maxolon. The study took place in Israel, where 3,458 pregnant women were exposed to metaclopramide. Results showed that there was no statistically significant impact on the fetus.
While the study shows promise, it is still not definite whether the drug will be available in America. Yet it offers another option to women who hate the inconvenience of morning sickness.
Elizabeth Stannard Gromisch received her bachelor’s of science degree in neuroscience from Trinity College in Hartford, CT in May 2009.