Pregnancy Induced Nausea and Vomiting (PINV), more commonly known as “morning sickness”, affects up to 80% of more than 5 million expectant mothers annually in the US. Despite being called “morning sickness”, episodes can occur at any time; morning, day or night. The average women will experience more than 25 days of symptoms during this initial trimester.

PINV is not just a 1st trimester condition for women. Up to 40% of pregnant women who experience PINV continue to have symptoms well into their 2nd trimester and nearly 20% may experience the symptoms throughout their pregnancy until delivery. Furthermore, nearly 50% of these women experience episodes that are considered moderate to severe that result in multiple episodes per day and daily symptoms ranging from 5-10 hours.

The symptoms of PINV can have a profound impact on a woman’s health, professional life, general sense of well-being, and day to day activities with family. PINV can also have significant impact of the health of the mother and of the developing baby.

Other than diet modification, there are few options available for the treatment of PINV. There are currently no pharmaceutical treatments with FDA clearance. As such while many doctors prefer avoid using anti-emetic medications due to unknown risks to the health of the baby and safety to mother during pregnancy, more than 3 million prescriptions are written annually in US for PINV.