Research has been conducted for decades that demonstrates the effectiveness of intranasal scopolamine for managing motion sickness. While there is no commercially available, FDA-approved drug formulation, it can still be made by a compounding pharmacy with a prescription.
What is Scopolamine?
Scopolamine is a belladonna alkaloid known to help prevent nausea and vomiting associated with motion sickness. It has been tested in various dosage forms for bioavailability, effectiveness, and side effects. Oral dosing has been found to have low bioavailability and is not consistent. Transdermal patches provide a prolonged, slow release that is not always ideal. Intranasal dosing emerged as a promising administration method due to its high bioavailability and was proven to be effective in many studies.
Why Do People Get Motion Sickness?
A good description of the cause of motion sickness is that it occurs when repeated and sustained mismatches occur between the information received from the sensory receptors and the expected internal model. It can result in nausea, vomiting, cold sweats, headaches, and other symptoms.
Whether or not a person experiences motion sickness is highly dependent on their individual biology and also the type and extremeness of the motion. For example, the incidence of some level of motion sickness is high for pilots in flight simulator training. It is lower when it comes to passengers on a ferry boat ride. Motion is not necessarily a requirement – symptoms can occur during a virtual reality ride or while watching a movie shot in a certain way.
Most people may be susceptible to some level of motion sickness given the right stimulus. However, for some individuals, it is almost a guarantee that when they get on a boat, they are going to be sick. These individuals most frequently need some type of ready-to-use medication when they are going on a boat or taking a long card ride.
History of Scopolamine Nasal Spray
In 1991, a patent was filed by NASA for an intranasal formulation of scopolamine. In the patent application, it states: “Intranasal delivery of scopolamine has similar bioavailability and effect of intravenous delivery and is far superior to oral dosage.” While it is possible to administer the drug intravenously, it is not the preferred method as it does not allow for patients to use the drug on their own. In addition, there are more side effects associated with intravenous administration, such as drug-induced amnesia.
NASA was developing this novel administration method for scopolamine to treat space motion sickness (SMS). However, motion sickness from other types of motion, like from a car or boat, is treated similarly. Many people who suffer from motion sickness take oral medication or use a transdermal patch. Oral forms have been shown to have low bioavailability and generally be less effective. Transdermal patches are effective but must be applied at some point before traveling or enduring an event that causes motion sickness.
One study showed that scopolamine intranasal has a bioavailability of 83% vs. 3.7% for oral administration. Intranasal administration of this drug was shown to be fast, reliable, and effective. It can be used as needed, without planning when to take it ahead of time. This makes it easier for individuals to carry their medication with them and use it when they feel like they may become sick.
How Can You Get Scopolamine Nasal Spray?
So what happened to the NASA formulation? In 2012 there was a press release stating that they were working on commercial development of the formulation. As of right now, however, there is no formulation available. That does not mean you can not still get this nasal spray with a prescription. A compounding pharmacy can take readily available active pharmaceutical ingredients like scopolamine and make them into new formulations. Our pharmacy compounds a nasal spray and can ship it directly to your home.
Articles
Intranasal scopolamine preparation and method – nasa.gov
Clinical Pharmacokinetics of Intranasal Scopolamine for Space Motion Sickness – University of Houston Library
Bioavailability of Intranasal Scopolamine in Normal Subjects – Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences
Scopolamine (hyoscine) for preventing and treating motion sickness – Cochrane Library