New Chewing Gum May Help Prevent Motion Sickness

New Chewing Gum May Help Prevent Motion Sickness

While pills, capsules or motion-sickness patches can prevent the unsettling queasiness caused by mal de mer, the time delay in waiting for these traditional medications to take effect remains a challenge. Fortunately, a fast-acting remedy in the form of chewing gum may soon be available. The research on this novel gum was presented in mid-October at the 2012 American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists Annual Meeting and Exposition in Chicago.

The medicated gum formulation was developed by researcher Mohsen Sadatrezaei, PharmD, of RoshaDarou Co, an Iranian pharmaceutical company, and a group of researchers from the Islamic Azad University School of Pharmaceutical Sciences in Tehran, Iran. Dimenhydrinate—the active ingredient in the gum—is already an accepted anti-sickness agent that is normally swallowed. Absorbing the ingredient through the buccal cavity may speed its effects when compared to taking dimenhydrinate orally. A sensory panel tested the prototype for timing of absorption through the buccal cavity, and also ranked the gum for taste and ease of use.

According to Sadatrezaei, the main challenge of delivering dimenhydrinate through chewing gum is masking its bitter taste, but he says the team was able to achieve a formulation “with acceptable taste and sensory attributes.” He adds that dimenhydrinate “is among the best drug candidates for treatment of motion sickness,” and that the gum provides a comfortable and acceptable method of drug delivery.

It appears that medicated chewing gum has great commercial potential for relief of motion sickness—and it may pave the way for delivering other bitter-tasting active ingredients through gum.