Lanier wrote:
>Hi Listmembers, there was an article in our paper a day or two ago
telling about a new sleeping pill, the main thing about it was that it
is supposed to work for four hours only, so you could take it at 3AM for
example, and then be able to function at 7AM. It was called "Sonata", I
think, as in a piano sonata by Mozart. (which is whaat I use sometimes)<
Tuesday August 10, 1999
Mid-Night Sleeping Pill Developed
By PHIL GALEWITZ AP Business Writer
NEW YORK (AP) - Insomniacs may soon have a sleeping pill they can take
in the middle of the night with less fear of being groggy in the
morning.
American Home Products hopes to win U.S. government approval later this
year for Sonata, a drug that wears off faster than existing medicines.
Sleep experts say the prescription pill is a significant improvement
because of the new flexibility it gives people who have trouble sacking
out.
``This is an advantage,'' said Richard Gelula, executive director of the
National Sleep Foundation in Washington, D.C. ``You can take a pill when
you travel on a long plane trip and be able to safely drive yourself
home.''
Sonata may reduce fears that some people have about becoming dependent
because they wouldn't be tempted to take it every evening, just in case
they might have trouble sleeping, experts said.
Sonata's effects last just four hours, so people can take it at 3 a.m.
even if they plan to get up at 7 a.m. Other pills last eight hours or
more.
If the Food and Drug Administration approves, the drug's instructions
will say it can be taken at bedtime, or well into the night.
The drug is one of five that American Home Products hopes to introduce
in the next year. These drugs are pivotal for the company, which has
seen earnings lag rivals, and faces a rash of lawsuits over the safety
of its fen-phen diet drug and Norplant contraceptive.
Sonata, which is named after a piece of classical music written for a
small group of instruments, was approved in Europe this summer.
It would challenge Ambien, the nation's most widely prescribed sleeping
pill that controls 80 percent of the market. Ambien, sold by Monsanto,
had $480 million in 1998 sales.
Analysts expect Sonata to eventually achieve annual sales of about $560
million.
Sleep experts who've studied Sonata say that after the drug wears off in
the body, a person's normal sleep pattern will usually take over so they
won't automatically wake up after four hours.
``This is a leap in the ability to tailor treatment of insomnia to the
patient,'' said Dr. Martin Scharf, director of the Tri-State Sleep
Disorder Center in Cincinnati, Ohio, which participated in tests of
Sonata.
However, Dr. R. Frank Steinberg, a medical director for a Monsanto
subsidiary, said many insomniacs have trouble saying asleep and Sonata
won't help them.
The most common side effects with Sonata are headache and dizziness.
Sonata's price hasn't been set yet. Ambien has an average wholesale
price of $1.65 to $2.14 per pill, depending on dosage. Retail prices can
be 10 percent to 20 percent higher.
American Home hopes Sonata does to insomnia what Prozac did to
depression: Bring the condition out of the closet.
More than half the U.S. population has insomnia at least periodically,
and 10 percent of Americans have chronic insomnia. American Home said
only a few of those afflicted seek help.
``Sleeping problems are pervasive in the United States,'' said Robert
Essner, executive vice president at American Home. ``But people are
loathe to take sleeping pills.''
Sleeping pills always left teacher Sharon Borntrager, 52, of Glendale,
Ohio, feeling hung over. Going without them kept her sleep to less than
two hours a night - no way to prepare for the elementary school students
that she had to face each morning.
But Borntrager averaged more than five hours sleep a night when she took
part in a 15-month test of Sonata. ``It helped me sleep so I would have
the stamina I needed,'' she said.
Borntrager, now retired, said she had no ill effects from Sonata.
Sleeping experts say sedatives have a bad reputation because of
barbiturates used in the '60s and other pills used in the 1970s and
1980s were highly addictive, giving them a high potential for abuse.
But dependence is much rarer with the newer sleeping pills such as
Ambien because the drugs are more selective in how they affect the
central nervous system.
Copyright © 1996-1999 The Associated Press.
--
Judith Richards, London, Ontario, Canada
[log in to unmask]
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