First cream that reduces sweating by 65% given NHS green light – as 75,000 could benefit

A NEW treatment for excessive sweating has been recommended for the NHS. NICE estimates that approximately 75,000 people in England maybe eligible for the cream, applied to the armpits at home. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has recommended glycopyrronium bromide (GPB) cream for excessive sweating (hyperhidrosis) Credit: Supplied Botox is a treatment for hyperhidrosis – but under the armpits Credit: Getty Hyperhidrosis is the medical name for when a person sweats profusely without obvious reason. It affects between three to five per cent of the population. Sign up for the Health newsletter Thank you! Living with hyperhidrosis means you sweat profusely regardless of room temperature, stress levels, or physical exertion. It’s due to overactivity within the sympathetic nervous system causes excessive stimulation of sweat glands. Treatment ranges from prescription antiperspirants, oral tablets that block sweat glands and Botox in the armpits. Medical-grade, prescription aluminum chloride antiperspirants can cause painful skin stinging and inflammation. And oral tablets that block sweat can cause symptoms elsewhere in the body. Patients are often given lifestyle advice, including to wear loose-fitting clothes, change socks twice a day and not drink alcohol or eat spicy food. Most read in Health But there’s hope for patients who have exhausted options, as NICE (the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence) has now recommended glycopyrronium bromide (GPB) cream. GPB cream, made by axunio UK and branded AXHIDROX, was shown to reduce sweating by 65 per cent after 12 weeks in clinical trials. At week 12, half of patients had achieved a more than 50 per cent reduction in sweat production and a third for 75 per cent. A fifth (22 per cent) of patients saw sweating reduce by more than 90 per cent, greatly improving their lives. The most common side effects included skin reactions (15 per cent of patients), a dry mouth (12 per cent) and dry eye (three per cent), as well as constipation and blurred vision. Anticholinergic medications block acetylcholine, a chemical that tells the body to sweat. When applying the cream, patients have to be careful not to transfer the product to other areas – such as the eyes – where dryness may be experienced. It is recommended not to use fingers, but the pump only to apply in the evening. After the NICE recommendation, it will be a few months before GPs can start prescribing to patients on the NHS. Richard Baderin, Managing Director, axunio UK: “Hyperhidrosis can have a profound impact on many aspects of daily life, yet treatment options have historically been limited. “The NICE recommendation for GPB cream represents an important milestone for adults living with severe primary axillary hyperhidrosis and provides access to the UK’s only licensed topical anticholinergic treatment for this condition.” Comment now