New drug for fibromyalgia? TNX-102 SL may improve sleep and multiple symptoms of the condition says new study

A new drug that could help people with fibromyalgia sleep better may have an important role in reducing many of the other symptoms of the condition, says research in the Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases.
Non-restorative sleep is when people wake up feeling that their sleep was insufficient and/or of poor quality. It appears to play a role in the functional changes in the body that occur in response to fibromyalgia. So some experts believe that treatments that improve sleep quality may improve fibromyalgia.

TNX-102 SL is a new drug that is being investigated for use and is currently not approved. It is designed for rapid absorption and bedtime use.

Current study
A research group wanted to assess if the sleep quality improvement associated with TNX-102 SL treatment would lead to improvement in pain levels and other symptoms of fibromyalgia. They split a total of 205 people with fibromyalgia into groups: 103 people received TNX-102 SL and 102 people were given a pretend drug for 12 weeks.

TNX-102 SL was found to improve multiple domains of fibromyalgia:

• On the Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire it improved scores by -17.2 compared to -9.1 for the pretend drug;
• Patient Global Impression of Change response rate was improved compared to placebo (30.1% versus 16.7%);
• Several measures of sleep quality improved;
• Treatment decreased pain compared to placebo.

The most common negative side effect was temporary tongue or mouth numbness, which 42% of people experienced. Serious side effects were very infrequent.

“Bedtime TNX-102 SL improved sleep quality by multiple measures,” the research team concludes. “Non-restorative sleep has been linked to central sensitization, which is a process in which regional chronic pain leads to changes in central pain processing and interpretation. The improvement in sleep quality resulting from bedtime treatment with TNX-102 SL was associated with improvements in multiple other symptoms and domains of fibromyalgia.”

Click here to read the original research.

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Image credit: Ray Ashley