A clinical trial has found that sulthiame, an existing epilepsy drug, significantly reduces breathing interruptions in people with obstructive sleep apnea — a condition that currently has no approved medication targeting its root cause.
The trial enrolled 298 people with moderate to severe sleep apnea across four European countries. One quarter received a placebo. The rest received different doses of sulthiame. Neither participants nor researchers knew who was taking the active drug.
Patients on higher doses experienced up to 47 percent fewer breathing pauses during sleep compared to the placebo group. They also showed improved overnight oxygen levels.
The drug appears to work by stabilizing the brain’s respiratory control signals, increasing the drive to breathe and reducing the likelihood that the upper airway collapses — the physical event that defines obstructive sleep apnea.
Most side effects were mild and temporary, according to the announcement.
Why This Matters for Patients
Obstructive sleep apnea causes repeated airway collapses during sleep, cutting oxygen levels and fragmenting rest. Left untreated, it raises the risk of high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease, stroke, and type 2 diabetes.
The standard treatment — continuous positive airway pressure, or CPAP — uses a mask to hold the airway open. It works, but up to half of patients stop using it within a year. The mask feels uncomfortable for many and disrupts sleep on its own terms.
Sulthiame is already approved for a form of childhood epilepsy. Researchers are now testing whether it can be repositioned as a sleep apnea treatment.
Jan Hedner, senior professor of pulmonary medicine at the Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, led the study. “We have been working on this treatment strategy for a long time, and the results show that sleep apnea can indeed be influenced pharmacologically,” he said. “It feels like a breakthrough, and we now look forward to larger and longer studies to determine whether the effect is sustained over time and whether the treatment is safe for broader patient groups.”
Ludger Grote and Kaj Stenlöf, also from the University of Gothenburg, contributed to the research. The findings were published in The Lancet.
What Comes Next
The trial was a double-blind study — a design that reduces bias but does not establish long-term safety or effectiveness at scale. Hedner’s team says larger, longer trials are needed before sulthiame could be broadly prescribed for sleep apnea.
The research was led with the university’s Sahlgrenska Academy playing a central role across the four-country European trial.
This article is a curated summary based on third-party sources. Source: Read the original article
