Schering Plough says sugammadex makes possible rapid reversal of rocuronium-induced muscle relaxation

A study using Schering-Plough’s novel selective relaxant binding agent sugammadex has shown it is possible to rapidly reverse rocuronium-induced muscle relaxation, the company announced today.

Marketed in the European Union as Bridion, sugammadex was used in the comparative study against another reversal agent neostigmine.

The median time found to reverse the muscle relaxation was 2.7 minutes for the sugammadex patients and 49 minutes for those in the neostigmine group, the results found. These will be published in the November 2008 issue of Anesthesiology.

Schering-Plough said sugammadex works in a different way to other binding agents to encapsulate a muscle and make it inactive.

“This finding with sugammadex will likely have important clinical implications for how muscle relaxation is managed, providing anesthesiologists with greater control in maintaining the level of blockade necessary during surgery,” said Dr Kevin Jones, lead author of the study and attending anaesthesiologist at Saddleback Memorial Medical Centre in California, US.

Sugammadex was recommended for approval by the US Food and Drug Administration in March of this year. Schering-Plough stated the drug as the “first and only” selective relaxant binding agent.