Orexin-blocking pill speeds sleep onset
By Ben Harder
A new compound that inhibits the activity of alertness-promoting brain peptides called orexins shows promise as a sleeping pill, according to tests in people and animals.
Men who took the drug fell asleep more quickly than did men who took a placebo, neurobiologist François Jenck of Actelion Pharmaceuticals in Allschwil, Switzerland, and his collaborators report in the February Nature Medicine.
Larger doses of the drug act faster and seem to have a stronger effect than do smaller doses, the researchers found. They previously observed similar effects in both dogs and rats.