Altamira Therapeutics announces publication on betahistine

Altamira Therapeutics highlighted the publication of an article describing the rationale for and use of betahistine in the treatment of residual dizziness following standard of care physical repositioning procedures for benign paroxysmal positional vertigo. The peer reviewed article was published by an international group of medical and scientific experts in vestibular disorders in the journal Frontiers in Neurology1 and reviews the potential causes of residual dizziness, which has been reported to occur in 31-61% of patients, and available treatment options. BPPV is characterized by repeated episodes of vertigo produced by changes in the head position relative to gravity, e.g. when tipping the head backward. It is typically caused by dislodged inner ear particles in one of the semicircular canals, most often the posterior canal. The debris elicits unwanted vestibular stimulation and is often cleared through physical repositioning procedures such as the Epley maneuver, which is strongly recommended by the Clinical Practice Guideline of the American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery. BPPV is the most common type of vertigo and accounts for 17 to 42% of all diagnosed cases; in the United States, healthcare costs associated with the diagnosis of BPPV alone approach $2 billion per year. Patients suffering from BPPV experience significant inconveniences and disabilities during symptomatic episodes, as they interfere with day-to-day activities such as driving a car or climbing stairs. Almost 86% of BPPV patients suffer some interruption to their daily activities and lost days at work due to BPPV. The dysfunction generally emerges in the elderly with a peak onset in the 5th and 6th decade. Even in case of a successful physical repositioning procedure, patients may experience residual dizziness. This may last for a few days up to several weeks and may affect quality of life and be of incapacitating nature. Residual dizziness may be due to, among others, remaining otoconia, incomplete vestibular compensation or microcirculation dysfunction. Based on their review of available treatment options, the authors of the publication suggest the use of vestibular habituation therapies and vestibular rehabilitation programs to facilitate vestibular compensation and treatment with betahistine for improvement of inner ear blood supply and promotion of vestibular compensation. An earlier publication by another research group had already shown in a meta-analysis that the combination of a common physical repositioning procedure with betahistine treatment resulted in a significantly greater reduction in dizziness handicap compared to the procedure alone