No advantage over older drugs?
Commenting on the findings, Michele Tagliati, MD, director of the movement disorders program at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, said he had been aware of the study and was interested in seeing the results. However, he does not see an advantage with this drug, compared with what is already used for essential tremor.
“The response of people is not that different than when we treat them with the old barbiturates and benzodiazepines,” said Dr. Tagliati, who was not involved with the research.
He also noted the high rate of adverse events, particularly somnolence, and said that in his experience with current treatments, some patients prefer to live with their tremors rather than be sleepy and not thinking well.
Dr. Tagliati said he thinks use of SAGE-324 is going to be limited to patients who can tolerate it, “which was not that many.”
In addition, the trial was limited by its relatively small size, a “huge placebo effect,” and a high dropout rate in the active treatment arm, he concluded.
The study was funded by Sage Therapeutics and Biogen. Dr. Bankole and Dr. Calquhoun are employees of Sage. Dr. Tagliati reported no relevant financial relationships.
A version of this article first appeared on Medscape.com.