For the thousands of landlubbers who turn green after stepping aboard a boat, there is great news:
Transderm Scop, the effective prescription seasickness patch, is back on the market for the first time in more than three years.
The drug’s return has been long awaited.
“It’s been tough without the patch,” said Phil O’Niel III of Bloomfield Hills, Mich., an avid sailor who had some of his crew succumb to seasickness during last year’s Port Huron to Mackinac race.
“I’m happy to have it back.”
Transderm Scop is a dime-sized adhesive patch worn behind the ear.
It delivers a continuous dosage of scopolamine, which helps prevent the nausea and vomiting of motion sickness by reducing the activity of nerve fibers in the inner ear. Each patch lasts for 72 hours.
They cost about $5 each and are available only by prescription.
When the patch was pulled off the market in August 1994, many boaters, cruise ship passengers, scuba divers and others who enjoy being on the water but suffer from motion sickness were left scrambling for alternatives.
Novartis Consumer Health Inc. of Summit, N.J., voluntarily stopped shipping the patch after quality-control inspections discovered a production problem that could have lowered effectiveness, company spokeswoman Mary-Fran Faraji said.
“There was never a safety issue. It was an efficacy issue,” she said.
The production process has been changed and recertified by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
Novartis Consumer Health began shipping the patches late last year, Faraji said, and they should now be available nationwide.
“It’s a marvelous drug for stabilizing the sensation of motion,” said Dr. Robert Amsler, a family practitioner who is the fleet surgeon for the Bayview Yacht Club in Detroit.
The patch can have side effects, including dryness of the mouth, drowsiness, blurred vision and urinary retention, Amsler said.
The drug should not be used by children or by those with glaucoma, difficulty in urinating or an allergy to scopolamine, according to the manufacturer.
Alex Pozios, a pharmacist at an Arbor Drug in St. Clair Shores, Mich., outside Detroit, said demand remained high for the patch, even when it was off the market.
“We were constantly getting inquiries about it,” Pozios said.
His pharmacy has been getting the patches for the last couple of months and has filled about five prescriptions.
“A lot of people probably still don’t know it’s available,” he said.
Without the patch, many people prone to motion sickness had turned to such old standbys as the over-the-counter drugs Dramamine and Bonine, raw ginger and acupressure wristbands.
Each are variously effective.
For information about Transderm Scop call the manufacturer’s hot line, 1-888-726-7724.
