• Jia Gao, Fang Wang, Xiaoling Wang, Xiaohua Zou, Hua-Cheng Liu, Xingrong Song, Xiaoqing Chai, Rong Jiang, Ping Zhao, Jiaqiang Zhang, Sai-Ying Wang, Haichun Ma, Zhibin Zhao, Quanren Wang, Na Zhou, Jianling Bai, and Jianmin Zhang.
• Department of Anesthesiology, Beijing Children's Hospital, Capital Medical University, National Center for Children's Health, No. 56 South Lishi Road, Xicheng District, Beijing, 100045, China.
• BMC Anesthesiol. 2024 Sep 6; 24 (1): 315315.

BackgroundOff-label intranasal administration of injectable dexmedetomidine has been widely applied in the pediatric sedation setting. However, the development of an improved drug delivery system that is easy to use is needed. We developed a novel dexmedetomidine nasal spray that can be administered directly without dilution or configuration for pediatric pre-anesthetic sedation. This nasal spray has a fixed dose and is stable during storage. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first licensed nasal spray preparation of dexmedetomidine worldwide.ObjectiveTo evaluate the pre-anesthetic sedation efficacy and safety of the novel dexmedetomidine nasal spray in children.MethodsThe study was conducted at 11 sites in China between 24 November 2021 and 20 May 2022 and was registered in ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT05111431, first registration date: 20/10/2021). Subjects (n = 159) between 2 and 6 years old who were to undergo elective surgery were randomized to the dexmedetomidine group (n = 107) or the placebo group (n = 52) in a 2:1 ratio. The dosage was 30 µg or 50 µg based on the stratified body weight. The primary outcome measure was the proportion of subjects who achieved the desired child-parent separation and Ramsay scale ≥ 3 within 45 min of administration. Safety was monitored via the assessments of adverse events, blood pressure, heart rate, respiratory rate and blood oxygen saturation.ResultsThe proportion of subjects achieving desired parental separation and Ramsay scale ≥ 3 within 45 min was significantly higher in the dexmedetomidine group (94.4%) vs the placebo group (32.0%) (P < 0.0001). As compared with placebo, dexmedetomidine treatment led to more subjects achieving Ramsay scale ≥ 3 or UMSS ≥ 2, and shorter time to reach desired parental separation, Ramsay scale ≥ 3 and UMSS ≥ 2 (all P < 0.0001). Adverse events were reported in 90.7% and 84.0% of subjects in the dexmedetomidine and placebo groups, respectively, and all the events were mild or moderate in severity.ConclusionsThis novel dexmedetomidine nasal spray presented effective pre-anesthetic sedation in children with a tolerable safety profile.© 2024. The Author(s).

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