The cure for insomnia that fights sleepless nights
Insomnia affects about 20% of Italians. In the UK it has an economic impact of nearly $50 billion and in the US $411 billion. Now a new treatment developed by the Swiss Idorsia promises to act differently on sleep. All the details
If sleep deprivation is a method of torture, it is possible to imagine the suffering that people with insomnia experience. In Italy 20% suffer from it and, according to the latest rumors , this pathology would have been "the main reason" that led Pope Benedict XVI to resign.
As stated by the German magazine Focus , the Pope emeritus in fact managed to carry out his duties thanks to "strong" pills prescribed by his doctor, but at a certain point their effectiveness reached its limit and the choice to leave office it's made inevitable.
Now, however, a new drug capable of blocking orexin, one of the main neurotransmitters that affects sleep, is on the way. This was announced by the experts during the national congress of the Italian Society of Neuropsychopharmacology (Sinpf).
THE DATA ON INSOMNIA
According to data reported by Ansa , over a third of the world's population is affected by insomnia and/or sleep disorders. In Italy it affects about 20% of the population and in many cases it is chronic.
In fact, the pathology is divided into acute and chronic: the first, explains Salute Domani , lasts less than 3 months and affects up to 30% of the population, the second can even last a lifetime, with a prevalence range between 10 and 15%, which equates to 6-9 million people.
Furthermore, the treatments do not seem to respond adequately to the problem since the symptoms continue to be persistent in 80% of cases 1 year after diagnosis and in 60% of cases after 5 years.
All often accompanied and aggravated by the co-presence of possible psychiatric or psycho-emotional disorders, in particular anxiety and depression.
THE DISCOVERY AND THE ADVANTAGES COMPARED TO OTHER DRUGS
The new molecule identified by the experts and which could make a breakthrough in this field is called daridorexant and was presented in two studies recently published in the Lancet and in the Sleep Journal .
Unlike traditional medicines, such as benzodiazepines and Z-drugs, it also combats daytime sleepiness and acts on a different target. Daridorexant, in fact, regulates sleep-wake cycles by inhibiting the exciting action of orexin, a substance with an activating function produced by the body.
"Taken in the evening, its effect is exhausted during the night, without leaving after-effects during the day", explained Matteo Balestrieri, professor of psychiatry at the University of Udine and co-president of the Sinpf.
Furthermore, the new drug has so far demonstrated a favorable safety profile and fewer adverse effects. "A great advantage of this molecule – said the expert – is that, unlike many other drugs against insomnia, it does not create addiction and can, consequently, be discontinued very easily".
THE COMPANY THAT MANUFACTURES THE DRUG
The therapy,recently approved in Italy, is developed by the Swiss biopharmaceutical startup Idorsia, which deals with the research and development of small molecules .
THE SOCIO-ECONOMIC COST OF INSOMNIA
Insomnia, in addition to having significant implications on people's health – those who suffer from it run a greater risk of developing depression, diabetes, cardiovascular disease and Alzheimer's – it also has strong socio-economic repercussions.
“In the United Kingdom – writesInternazionale -, the loss of productivity due to insomnia is equivalent to 1.7 million working hours per year, with an economic impact of almost 50 billion dollars. In the United States, 9.9 million working hours are wasted every year, causing an economic loss of 411 billion dollars. Lack of sleep costs these countries about 2 percent of their gross domestic product."
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/sanita/la-cura-contro-insonnia-che-combatte-le-notti-in-bianco/ on Mon, 06 Feb 2023 13:51:51 +0000.