The safety and efficacy of modafinil in multiple sclerosis-related fatigue.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
SEARCH · Search PubMed
Search indexed PubMed citations on genomics, clinical trials, systematic reviews and public health. Explore titles, authors and supplied subject terms, then open the PubMed record.
Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
11C-labeled (+)-trans-2-[[(3R,4S)-4-(4-chlorophenyl)-1-methylpiperidin-3-yl]methylsulfanyl]ethanol ([11C]5) and (+)-trans-2-[[(3R,4S)-4-(4-chlorophenyl)-1-methylpiperidin-3-yl]methylsulfanyl]-1-(piperidin-1-yl)ethanone ([11C]6) were synthesized and evaluated as new imaging agents for the norepinephrine transporter (NET). [11C]5 and [11C]6 display high affinity for the NET in vitro (Ki = 0.94 and 0.68 nM, respectively) and significant selectivity over the dopamine (DAT) and serotonin transporters (SERT). Because of their high affinity and favorable transporter selectivities we speculated that these ligands might serve as useful PET agents for imaging NET in vivo. Contrary to our expectations, both of these ligands provided brain images that were more typical of those shown by agents binding to the DAT.
Background: Narcolepsy, a neurological disorder characterized by excessive daytime sleepiness and abnormal REM sleep, is known to be tightly associated with the human leukocyte antigen (HLA) DQB1*0602.Methods: In this study, baseline data collected for a large clinical trial involving 504 narcolepsy patients were used to compare clinical and polysomnographic features of narcolepsy patients with and without HLA-DQB1*0602. Comparisons were adjusted for possible confounding factors and linear regression modeling was used to extract the best predictors for DQB1*0602 positivity.Results: As previously reported, cataplexy was the best clinical predictor for DQB1*0602 positivity. At the polysomnographic level, subjects with DQB1*0602 were found to have a significantly more disrupted nocturnal sleep, a much shorter nocturnal rapid eye movement (REM) sleep latency and more multiple sleep latency test abnormalities (increased number of sleep onset REM periods and decreased mean sleep latency). We also found that subjects with DQB1*0602 had a much higher incidence of periodic limb movements during sleep, confirming the notion that this symptom is genuinely associated with the narcolepsy phenotype.Conclusions: These results support the notion that HLA-DQB1*0602-positive narcolepsy patients are more etiologically homogenous than HLA-DQB1*0602-negative narcoleptic patients.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Narcolepsy is a neurological disorder known to be tightly associated with HLA-DQA1*0102 and DQB1*0602. In this study, we have examined if homozygosity for DQB1*0602 increases disease susceptibility and/or severity. Patients diagnosed at Stanford University (n=160) or enrolled in a multicenter clinical trial (n=509) were included in this analysis. In both African-Americans and Caucasian-Americans with or without cataplexy, a significantly higher than expected number of subjects were DQB1*0602 homozygotes. Relative risks were 2-4 times higher in DQB1*0602 homozygotes vs heterozygotes across all patient groups. In contrast, symptom severity did not differ between DQB1*0602 homozygous and heterozygous subjects. These results indicate that HLA-DQB1*0602 homozygosity increases susceptibility to narcolepsy but does not appear to influence disease severity.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
STUDY OBJECTIVES: To assess the effectiveness of sodium oxybate therapy, modafinil therapy and the combination of the two for excessive daytime sleepiness in narcolepsy patients previously taking modafinil. DESIGN: Double-blind, placebo-controlled, multicenter study. SETTING: Forty-four sites in the United States, Canada, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. PARTICIPANTS: Two hundred seventy- adult patients with narcolepsy taking 200 to 600 mg of modafinil daily for the treatment of excessive daytime sleepiness. INTERVENTIONS: Patients received unchanged doses of modafinil (with sodium-oxybate placebo) during a 2-week baseline phase. Following a baseline polysomnogram and Maintenance of Wakefulness Test, they were randomly assigned to 1 of 4 treatment groups: sodium-oxybate placebo plus modafinil placebo, sodium oxybate plus modafinil placebo, modafinil plus sodium-oxybate placebo, or sodium oxybate plus modafinil. Sodium oxybate was administered as 6 g nightly for 4 weeks and was then increased to 9 g nightly for 4 additional weeks. The primary efficacy measure was the Maintenance of Wakefulness Test; secondary measures included the Epworth Sleepiness Scale, diary recordings, and the Clinical Global Impression-change scale. RESULTS: Following the switch from modafinil to placebo, the mean average daytime sleep latency on the Maintenance of Wakefulness Test decreased from 9.74 minutes at baseline to 6.87 minutes after 8 weeks (p < .001). In the sodium-oxybate group, there was no decrease in sleep latency, suggesting that this drug was as efficacious in treating the excessive daytime sleepiness as the previously administered modafinil. In contrast, the sodium-oxybate/modafinil group demonstrated an increase in daytime sleep latency from 10.43 minutes to 13.15 minutes (p < .001), suggesting that this combination of drugs produced an additive effect. The sodium-oxybate group also demonstrated a decrease in median average Epworth Sleepiness Scale scores, from 15 to 12.0, whereas the sodium-oxybate/modafinil group decreased from 15.0 to 11.0 (for both, p < .001). The Clinical Global Impression-Change scale demonstrated similar results. CONCLUSIONS: Sodium oxybate and modafinil are both effective for treating excessive daytime sleepiness in narcolepsy, producing additive effects when used together. Sodium oxybate is beneficial as both monotherapy and as adjunctive therapy for the treatment of excessive daytime sleepiness in narcolepsy.
Narcolepsy, a lifelong disorder, requires long-term management of symptoms. Interventions may be nonpharmacologic, such as lifestyle changes, and pharmacologic for relief of daytime sleepiness. Pharmacologic treatment of narcolepsy has depended on the use of CNS stimulants to increase wakefulness, vigilance, and performance. The medications considered effective in the treatment of narcolepsy include dextroamphetamine, pemoline, methylphenidate, methamphetamine, and modafinil; only methylphenidate hydrochloride and dextroamphetamine are approved for use in the United States. The currently available stimulants are associated with sympathomimetic side effects, limitations in efficacy, and negative effects on nighttime sleep. This has led to the development of alternative agents. Modafinil, a new wake-promoting agent, has been shown to be effective in reducing daytime sleepiness in patients with narcolepsy. The results of a United States 18-center randomized, placebo-controlled, 9-week trial of modafinil in the treatment of patients with narcolepsy has recently been reported. Patients receiving modafinil demonstrated significant improvement in all subjective and objective measures of sleepiness. Treatment with modafinil 200 mg and 400 mg daily significantly reduced mean scores on the Epworth Sleepiness Scale compared with baseline and placebo (p < 0.001) and significantly increased mean scores on the Maintenance of Wakefulness Test (p < 0.001) and the Multiple Sleep Latency Test (p < 0.001) compared with baseline and placebo. More improvement, as recorded on the Clinical Global Impression of Change scale, was seen in the modafinil group than in the placebo group at all time points (p < 0.001). Modafinil was well tolerated, with headache the only adverse event to occur significantly more often in the active treatment group (p < 0.05). These results suggest that modafinil is an important new therapeutic option for the treatment of narcolepsy.
OBJECTIVE: To assess the pharmacodynamics of armodafinil compared with modafinil and placebo on measures of alertness in healthy volunteers undergoing sleep loss. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: In a double-blind, active- and placebo-controlled, parallel-group study, 107 healthy male volunteers (aged 18-40 years) were randomized to receive a single oral dose of armodafinil (100, 150, 200, or 300 mg), modafinil (200 mg), or placebo administered at 19:25 h. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The primary outcome was the Maintenance of Wakefulness Test (MWT), administered every 2 hours from 22:00-08:00 h. Secondary outcomes included the Psychomotor Vigilance Task (PVT) and the Karolinska Sleepiness Scale. Blood samples for pharmacokinetic analysis were collected hourly. Adverse events were evaluated throughout the 2-day laboratory stay and by telephone on day 9. RESULTS: All four doses of armodafinil, and the dose of 200 mg modafinil, improved wakefulness as measured by increased MWT latencies (treatment effect, p < 0.0001) and reduced PVT lapses of attention (treatment effect, p < 0.0001). The magnitude and duration of these effects at the later time points appeared to be dose and concentration dependent. Armodafinil at 200 mg resulted in comparable C(max), a later t(max), and higher plasma concentrations 6-14 hours post-drug administration than with 200 mg modafinil. Following armodafinil, longer MWT latencies and fewer PVT lapses 6 to approximately 14 hours post-drug administration were observed compared with modafinil. Armodafinil doses were well tolerated, with the most common adverse events including abdominal pain, nausea, and headache. There were reports of tachycardia/palpitations. Decreased mean sleep efficiency and increased mean blood pressure were also observed. CONCLUSION: Armodafinil improved alertness at all doses studied. Relative to modafinil 200 mg, armodafinil 200 mg showed a comparable peak plasma concentration with higher concentrations 6-14 hours post-drug, and improved wakefulness and sustained attention for a longer time post-dose. Both drugs were well tolerated; however, further research on the efficacy, safety, and tolerability of armodafinil in patients with disorders of excessive sleepiness (ES) is required.
BACKGROUND: Excessive daytime sleepiness is a common symptom of myotonic dystrophy. Psychostimulants are drugs increasingly used to treat hypersomnia in myotonic dystrophy. OBJECTIVES: To search systematically for, and combine all evidence from, randomised trials relating to the effects of psychostimulants in myotonic dystrophy patients with hypersomnia. SEARCH STRATEGY: We searched the Cochrane Neuromuscular Disease Trials Register (January 2006), MEDLINE (from January 1966 to January 2006) and EMBASE (from January 1980 to January 2006) for randomised trials concerning psychostimulants in myotonic dystrophy, checked the bibliographies of identified papers and made enquiries of the authors of the papers. The search for relevant studies was updated in January 2006. SELECTION CRITERIA: We considered all randomised or quasi randomised trials that have evaluated any type of psychostimulants (versus a placebo or no treatment) in children or adults with proven myotonic dystrophy and hypersomnia. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS: Potentially relevant papers were scrutinised by two authors and the selection of eligible studies was agreed by them and a third author. Data were extracted by one author and checked by a second author. MAIN RESULTS: Primary outcome. One trial using a modified maintenance of wakefulness test showed an improvement by 5.70 (95% confidence intervals 0.1 to 11.3) minutes more in the modafinil than the control group. Secondary outcomes. In a double-blind crossover study of 10 participants with myotonic dystrophy, there was no difference between the selegiline and placebo periods in mean improvement in the multiple sleep latency test. Two trials, involving 60 participants in total, evaluated the efficacy and safety of modafinil in adults with myotonic dystrophy-related daytime sleepiness. The weighted mean difference on the Epworth Sleepiness Scale was -1.59 (95% confidence intervals, -2.77 to -0.42) in favour of modafinil. AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS: There is no evidence to support the routine use of psychostimulants to treat hypersomnia in myotonic dystrophy. There is some evidence from two studies that modafinil may improve daytime sleepiness. More randomised trials are needed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of psychostimulants.
Management of narcolepsy with or without cataplexy relies on several classes of drugs, namely stimulants for excessive daytime sleepiness and irresistible episodes of sleep, antidepressants for cataplexy and hypnosedative drugs for disturbed nocturnal sleep. In addition, behavioral measures can be of notable value. Guidelines on the management of narcolepsy have already been published. However contemporary guidelines are necessary given the growing use of modafinil to treat excessive daytime sleepiness in Europe within the last 5-10 years, and the decreasing need for amphetamines and amphetamine-like stimulants; the extensive use of new antidepressants in the treatment of cataplexy, apart from consistent randomized placebo-controlled clinical trials; and the present re-emergence of gamma-hydroxybutyrate under the name sodium oxybate, as a treatment of all major symptoms of narcolepsy. A task force composed of the leading specialists of narcolepsy in Europe has been appointed. This task force conducted an extensive review of pharmacological and behavioral trials available in the literature. All trials were analyzed according to their class evidence. Recommendations concerning the treatment of each single symptom of narcolepsy as well as general recommendations were made. Modafinil is the first-line pharmacological treatment of excessive daytime sleepiness and irresistible episodes of sleep in association with behavioral measures. However, based on several large randomized controlled trials showing the activity of sodium oxybate, not only on cataplexy but also on excessive daytime sleepiness and irresistible episodes of sleep, there is a growing practice in the USA to use it for the later indications. Given the availability of modafinil and methylphenidate, and the forseen registration of sodium oxybate for narcolepsy (including excessive daytime sleepiness, cataplexy, disturbed nocturnal sleep) in Europe, the place of other compounds will become fairly limited. Since its recent registration cataplexy sodium oxybate has now become the first-line treatment of cataplexy. Second-line treatments are antidepressants, either tricyclics or newer antidepressants, the later being increasingly used these past years despite few or no randomized placebo-controlled clinical trials. As for disturbed nocturnal sleep the best option is still hypnotics until sodium oxybate is registered for narcolepsy. The treatments used for narcolepsy, either pharmacological or behavioral, are diverse. However the quality of the published clinical evidences supporting them varies widely and studies comparing the efficacy of different substances are lacking. Several treatments are used on an empirical basis, specially antidepressants for cataplexy, due to the fact that these medications are already used widely in depressed patients, leaving little motivation from the manufacturers to investigate efficacy in relatively rare indications. Others, in particular the more recently developed substances, such as modafinil or sodium oxybate, are evaluated in large randomized placebo-controlled trials. Our objective was to reinforce the use of those drugs evaluated in randomized placebo-controlled trials and to reach a consensus, as much as possible, on the use of other available medications.
OBJECTIVE: To review the literature for pharmacologic management of opioid-induced sedation (OIS) in patients with chronic pain. DATA SOURCES: A search of MEDLINE (1966-October 2004) for English-language literature and selected bibliographies was completed. Search terms included pain, opioid, sedation, psychostimulants, amphetamines, modafinil, and donepezil. DATA SYNTHESIS: Amphetamines and amphetamine-like agents, caffeine, donepezil, and modafinil have been evaluated for OIS. Available literature is limited by numbers of subjects, duration, and trial design; however, there is limited support for the use of methylphenidate, donepezil, and modafinil. CONCLUSIONS: Pharmacologic treatment of OIS should be utilized selectively, given the available literature. Methylphenidate, donepezil, and modafinil may be considered in appropriate patients.
Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a neuropsychiatric disorder characterized by inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity. ADHD is commonly treated with behavioral therapy and noradrenergic and dopaminergic pharmacotherapy with psychostimulants such as methylphenidate and dextroamphetamine. Stimulants primarily have dopaminergic and noradrenergic mechanisms of action, with blockade at the dopamine transporter reducing reuptake, resulting in an increase in these neurotransmitters at the synapse. Theoretically, inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity in ADHD may be due to underlying executive functioning, alerting, and orienting deficits, and the nonstimulant modafinil could be beneficial in managing symptoms of ADHD by improving these components of attention that accompany wakefulness. Although modafinil exhibits a small degree of dopaminergic action by blocking the dopamine transporter, the major effect of modafinil may be attributable to neuronal activity in the hypothalamus, particularly pertaining to the recently discovered peptides hypocretin 1 and 2 (also known as orexin A and B). However, further placebo-controlled and flexible-dose studies are needed to determine the efficacy of modafinil in treating the symptoms of ADHD in children and adults.
Excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS) has recognized detrimental consequences such as road traffic accidents, impaired psychological functioning and reduced work performance. EDS can result from multiple causes such as sleep deprivation, sleep fragmentation, neurological, psychiatric and circadian rhythm disorders. Treating the underlying cause of EDS remains the mainstay of therapy but in those who continue to be excessively sleepy, further treatment may be warranted. Traditionally, the amphetamine derivatives, methylphenidate and pemoline (collectively sympathomimetic) psychostimulants were the commonest form of therapy for EDS, particularly in conditions such as narcolepsy. More recently, the advent of modafinil has broadened the range of therapeutic options. Modafinil has a safer side-effect profile and as a result, interest in this drug for the management of EDS in other disorders, as well as narcolepsy, has increased considerably. There is a growing school of thought that modafinil may have a role to play in other indications such as obstructive sleep apnea/hypopnea syndrome already treated by nasal continuous positive airway pressure but persisting EDS, shift work sleep disorders, neurological causes of sleepiness, and healthy adults performing sustained operations, particularly those in the military. However, until adequately powered randomised-controlled trials confirm long-term efficacy and safety, the recommendation of wakefulness promoters in healthy adults cannot be justified.