IS CPAP STILL THE GOLD STANDARD FOR APNEA TREATMENT?
Michael Farrell is the global head of ResMed’s Sleep Business Unit. As a Senior Vice President of the second largest maker of CPAP his October 1,2009 announcement that it had acquired Laboratoires Narval (“Narval”) in Lyon. Narval is the French manufacturer and distributer of oral appliances for the treatment of sleep Disordered breathing. Laboratoires Narval primarily sells its products in France but has had booths at dental meetings in the United States. ResMed’s offering of the Narval MAS (mandibular advancement splint) as an alternative treatment to CPAP for patients who reject the use of CPAP machines or who are non-compliant is a brilliant tactical move. Oral Appliance therapy has seen explosive growth in recent years. Historically only 23-45% of patients tolerated CPAP use and the latest study showed that 60% of patients abandon their CPAP. For many years patients were not aware that there were other treatments available. In the February 2006 issue of Sleep guidelines were set u
