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Dextromethorphan as cure for lung fibrosis?
In the last months, december 2024 and januari 2025, there are a lot of publications and news items om the effect of Dextromethorphan on lung fibrosis.
This “over the counter” cough medication costs less than a $ per pill.
A German hospital in Heidelberg is planning a phase 2 study on patients soon.
A Chinese study from 2021 showed interesting results in combination with pirfenidone on mice and humans:
https://www.researchsquare.com/article/rs-472298/v2
Is there anyone with experience with this drug? The advised dosis, possible side-effect, results after 6 or 12 months?
My mother who has ipf since 3 years will start as soon as we receive the drug next week. She is currently quite stable on pirfenidone and prednisolone.
dzl.de
Scientists at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) have identified dextromethorphan, an FDA-approved over-the-counter cough suppressant, as a potential treatment for pulmonary fibrosis. Initial tests indicate that this compound may inhibit scarring in the lungs.
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16 Replies
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Maurice,
Thanks for sharing this information. Have you discussed this with your mother’s care team? In the US, another antitussive, Tessalon Perles, is commonly prescribed. Its active ingredient is benzonatate. I quickly searched for studies using Dextromethorphan and could not find one related to pulmonary fibrosis. As you learn more please come back and share the information/source.
Sam…
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Hi Samuel,
The Benzonataat is only used as cough represssent and doesn’t improve the fibrosis as far as I can see.
The pneumologist is not very open for discussion. They just follow protocol, and you should be happy to receive the costly anti-fibrotic medication.
We checked any cross interference with other medication she is on, and there isn’t.
It is also no option to wait for the Heidelberg phase 2 trial, it hasn’t started yet and you still have the chance that you end up in the placebo group.
My mother just turned 75 and is 24/7 on 4,5L/mi of oxygen.
We just give it a try for the coming months with 15 or 30mg per day. This is quite a low dose since the max daily dose is 120mg/day. She has a check up every 3 months, we’ll see how it goes.
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Regards Dextromethorphan – it is is some cough syrup OTC and I use it almost daily for 2+ years but have zero insight for stopping/slowing (I)PF. A quick AI search indicates it may help buttttt – it is AI saying that..
Interested in the German study…
Stay well,
Steve
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I ordered the pills instead of liquid version.
https://www.docmorris.de/hustenstiller-ratiopharm-dextromethorphan/09230807
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Thanks, Maurice! I also recently noticed the mention of dextrometgorphan as a possible tool against fibrosis, and it sounds like something to ask your pulmonologist about. I am not a scientist or a dosctor, but from what I can tell this may be of some promise.
Read more in this recent publication from the NIH (and trust that the freeze on federal medical communications announced this week is temporary): https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39693409/#:~:text=Excessive%20deposition%20of%20fibrillar%20collagen,coinciding%20with%20their%20secretion%20block.
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
Excessive deposition of fibrillar collagen in the interstitial extracellular matrix (ECM) of human lung tissue causes fibrosis, which can ultimately lead to organ failure. Despite our understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying the disease, no cure for pulmonary fibrosis has … Continue reading
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Thanks,
I read a lot of the news articles from the past weeks.
The one from china I posted is also quite interesting, however it is based on a small group of patients.
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I’ve found several NIH articles over the years discussing small studies that suggest a particular treatment may have some benefits with the treatment of PF or IPF. My pulmonologist cautioned that while these studies and papers may sound promising, until larger studies and clinical trials are done, that it isn’t something to take much stock in. I read about a study saying certain Cannabinoids might also have promise with IPF. I had been taking Dr. Noble’s (from Cedar Sinai Medical Center) Zinc protocol for the past year (NAD+, Zinc, and Resveratrol), which has a similar hype about how it may help with IPF. However, can’t say it’s helped me much at all after several months being on it – and plan to stop soon. We all want something more effective now but we may need to wait a bit longer before something is available that is proven to be effective in a large study, like Ofev was.
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Hi Larry,
You are right, some preliminary results of small tests are often hyped in the media. And one should better wait until the results of large trials are done.
However my mother doesn’t have the time to wait a couple of years. And probably the pharmaceutical industry is not very eager to spend millions of dollars on research on pills which costs nearly nothing. Or they take it from the market and sell it again for a fortune afterwards, if proven effective.
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Hi everyone.
Maurice, if it doesn’t harm your mother, it’s worth trying the dextromethorphan and I hope it helps her.
On another tangent, and not to be pedantic, I think we should use the words “cure” and “amelioration” with caution. My understanding as someone diagnosed with PF in 2013 is that once the lung tissue is scarred it cannot be “unscarred”; that is, restored to its former condition. However, there’s lots of encouraging research and experience out there with treatments that can/might slow down the fibrosing so there’s always room for hope.
– Patricia
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Hi Patricia,
You are right, that’s why I put a question mark in the title of the subject.
Maybe “treatment” or “possible cure” is better.
The research does show a certain degree of breakdown of fibrotic tissue in the lungs, if it restores to normal functioning lung tissue is not clear to me.
regards,
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Thanks for the info Maurice77,
I have been an IPF patient on Ofev for close to 3 years but worsening with each passing year.
I just started using dextromethorphan 60mg tablets twice a day now along with my prescribed Nintedanib 150mg twice a day to see how it works. Coughing and lack of oxygen are my two major problems nowadays, let’s see if there are some improvements.
Can’t wait to see Fibroneer FDA-approved for IPF patients within the 2025 time frame!
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Hi,
I do not want to sit on the chair of a doctor, and I hope that you inform yourself on taking medications. I would however want to point out that your dosis with 2x 60 mg is higher than what was used in the chinese study where 7,5 – 15 mg/day was used.
So I hope your doctor is willing to look together with you on the advised dosis.
Good luck!
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I am very interested in this and thank you all so much for introducing this subject!!
When I had an exacerbation last summer, I started using a Target brand cough syrup with DM and Guaifenesin. It worked SO well and got me through the worst of a bad infection that I continued taking a small amount each night at bedtime.
I just searched on Google for a capsule form of DM and it’s available through several outlets including Walgreens. I would rather pop a capsule, especially if this will be daily, than take sickly sweet syrup. Also much easier to travel with capsules! Thanks again to everyone for the support and contributions 🙂
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I have used over the counter Mucinex and Robitussin DM with dextromethorphan to control cough for many years. I used them on my kids when they were sick. After reading about this research, I decided to use Mucinex DM on a daily basis. I have tolerated both very well to thin mucus and control cough over a long period. Hopefully daily use of dextromethorphan may possibly, potentially, perhaps slow the fibrosis process. I consider this a reasonable strategy for myself, especially since I have an ILD cough. I have a feeling that any US fibrosis research will be slowed or paused.
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I noticed the article on Dextromethorphan and decided to try it. In Australia DM comes in Benedryl Dry Cough with a dosage of 5mg, I did not know what the dosage was for the german work but looked for a stronger level. Amazon (as always) has a pill (Robe Tablets Cough Suppressant) with a dosage of 30mg. I have been using this for several weeks at 30mg twice a day and have noticed some lessening of my coughing, hopefully it will also affect my fibrosis in the long term. So far no side effects!
Martin
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