An upcoming insomnia medication, Suvorexant developed from our understanding of narcolepsy. At the SLEEP 2012 Conference today, Merck announced results for additional clinical trials – indicating that the drug made people fall asleep 40 percent faster and sleep 40 percent longer than placebo. I wasn’t able to attend this conference session today. NBC’s Nightly News featured the drug tonight explaining that this advancement came from narcolepsy. The video clip shows dogs having cataplexy (loss of muscle tone with emotion). 

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I’m skeptical that this will be the “Sleep Fix” that NBC’s Nightly News suggests it may be. I haven’t seen any data to indicate that Suvorexant promotes natural sleep architecture (Non-REM and REM sleep), and reduces daytime sleepiness.  

I look forward to learning more and hope this leads to an advancement in narcolepsy treatment soon too. Read more about this drug development here.