One of the most popular prescribed drugs of the past ten years, modafinil comes with an interesting history. Created in France in the late 1980s as an experimental therapy for narcolepsy, modafinil was authorized for prescription consumption by the FDA in 1998. Though it was not until the mid-naughts that the medication actually caught on in America. What happened?
Marketed as a sleep disorder medication by pharmaceutical maker Cephalon and marketed under the brand phenq appetite suppressant (https://socialnewsdaily.com/) name Provigil, sales of modafinil were just twenty five dolars million in 1999. Eight years which are short later (2007), revenues topped $800 million — so that it is more profitable compared to Adderall or Viagra. Although sales would afterwards decline as a result of generic erosion, Provigil remains probably the most famous wakefulness promoting representative (or perhaps eugeroic) sold by prescription. Ironically, it’s the basic fact that modafinil is chiefly used off-label that is behind the stunning success of its in the States.
Early celebrity
Vastly better than amphetamines as well as amphetamine like stimulants since it doesn’t result in addiction, jitteriness, crashing, as well as other adverse effects, modafinil was famously put on by U.S. soldiers who needed to stay awake for days on end when fighting in Iraq. Tales of its efficacy shortly reached the house front, along with sales of Provigil continuously rose.
Limitless and beyond
In the 2011 movie Limitless, a character played by actor Bradley Cooper exponentially boosts the brainpower of his by taking an experimental nootropic drug called NZT-48. Because art generally imitates life, there’s powerful evidence that the fictional mind booster was founded on modafinil. How can we know?
By the time the film was in production, modafinil must have been a poorly-kept secret of the powerful and rich. Wildly well known on Wall Street, it was said to increase productivity, mental acuity, and concentration. Labelled a smart drug (or maybe nootropic) as it reputedly improved one or maybe more aspects of cognitive function, it was the stuff of legend for anybody that was looking to get ahead. It is no wonder the prescription drug can be discovered in the medicine cabinets of one percenters the planet over. But how about the rest of us?
Restricting the unlimited