Talk:Modafinil

I have added a few minor details, broadening the scope of the article. I would be interested if anyone knows the time for modafinil to take effect after ingestion. Richard Farmbrough.

Pretty much the standard 35-45min as with most ingested drugs. From the PDR monograph: "Absorption of PROVIGIL tablets is rapid, with peak plasma concentrations occurring at 2-4 hours. The bioavailability of PROVIGIL tablets is approximately equal to that of an aqueous suspension. The absolute oral bioavailability was not determined due to the aqueous insolubility (<1 mg/mL) of modafinil, which precluded intravenous administration. Food has no effect on overall PROVIGIL bioavailability; however, its absorption (t max ) may be delayed by approximately one hour if taken with food." (copyrighted, fair use, don't include in article) --Bk0 20:22, 21 Dec 2004 (UTC)

- I have been using modafinil for about 2 months every week day and find it takes about 1 hour to take effect and probably 3 hours for peak effect. However this is a very subjective and hard to determine number.. i find its effect isnt so much waking you up and preventing you from wanting to sleep. You will usually wake up more as the day goes on regardless of taking this drug so its difficult to define. --danielg 16:20, 24 March 2006 (UTC)

Military Use

Many sites refer to military use, some hard and fast documentation would be nice. Rich Farmbrough 13:46, 18 Aug 2004 (UTC)

This study is done by this canadian defence (defense) research firm. 63.201.228.94 05:10, 4 August 2005 (UTC)[reply]

"Dosage varies from once 100 mg/day to twice 200 mg per day (the second about 4 hours after waking), and is more effective on naive users."

This seems more qualitive than objective. What exactly is meant by "naive users?" Do you mean patients? How does one define their level of naivete in this case? What exactly does a "naive" person indicate in this instance? Is there any source for this claim? MSTCrow 14:44, Nov 23, 2004 (UTC)

Naive with respect to stimulants, I.E. newly diagnosed. The data is from a published paper listed at www.modafinal.com IIRC. Rich Farmbrough 19:18, 21 Dec 2004 (UTC)

Yes, "naive" when used in medical papers means a patient not yet exposed to whatever the paper is talking about. In this case it means people who have never before used modafinil. --Bk0 20:12, 21 Dec 2004 (UTC)

NPOV?

Hmm -- I was reading through this:

The manufacturer claims that modafinil allows people who suffer from unusual fatigue to remain awake without side effects or impairment of job performance. However it does not live up to this in all cases, occasionally producing rashes and intestinal problems. The usual prescription is for a single dose to be taken shortly after waking; its effects last for most of the day without preventing normal sleep at night, though in narcolepsy twice-daily administration is required. Under no-sleep conditions, a dose is taken at 8 hour intervals.

and it seemed to me that it was inappropriate for a "Indications" section. Side-effects have been their own separate section in every other Wikipedia entry I have read; why should this one be any different? It seems like it was written by someone who had a bad experience with the drug. I'm not seasoned enough to rewrite it myself, but can someone take a look at this?24.34.92.252 07:22, 10 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]

i tend to agree with you - this article is clearly written by someone very biased against modafinil (or possibly certain prescriptions in general?). the emphasis is on the negative side-effects and possible flaws with the medication rather than the various uses, treatment durations, and other necessary general information. very disappointing. i will try and take a moment to make some edits when i have more time.

long term effects & relation to other amphetamines?

(many topics in one actually)

Are any specifics known about the long term usage of this drug? For instance, would a fighter pilot on a typical hightened dispatch (let's say, for argument's sake, 2 weeks) be subjected to alternate between Zolpidem and Modafinil (or Dexedrine) ?

- What are the effects on the judgement capabilities of the subjects (short term and long term) after 24 or 48 hours of sleep deprivation?

- How does this compare or differ from general Amphetamines or Dexedrine with regard to:

- libido effects

- recreational

- perhaps dosage and half time ?

Martixer

I'm not aware of any literature or studies regarding the topics you mention, so any information would be anecodotal and original research. However, modafinil is not an amphetamine and the effects are quite different from, eg, dextroamphetamine. Modafinil is not particularly euphoric or recreational, so the abuse potential is low. Also, regarding your first example, sedatives such as Zolpidem shouldn't be necessary to achieve sleep; unlike typical sympathomimetic stimulants, insomnia is not a common side effect of modafinil use. --Bk0 (Talk) 15:21, 11 January 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Urine smell of sulphur?

Can someone who has actually tken modafinil comment on whether it causes a rotten egg smell in your urine? Thanks. --James S. 04:54, 16 January 2006 (UTC)[reply]

It's not a rotten egg smell, but there's certainly an odor. It's very distinct. It smells like the drug tastes.

Eh, can't say I have - otherwise I wouldn't go into any public toilets...

Yes, when combined with certain other drugs. have you been combining this with amphetamines or benzodiazepines? - D. Morelos

Petition

Just disambiguated the reference to the FDA petition, as coming from a private individual (as aposed to any of the drug companies mentioned)

Evidence based on the fact that the adressee in the petition response: http://www.fda.gov/ohrms/dockets/dockets/05p0265/05p-0265-let0001-vol1.pdf [is James S.] ... appears to be unrelated to drug companies. --Zootalures 23:26, 13 March 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, that's me. There was an earlier petition from a competing drug company in application for generic production, but it was withdrawn when the particle size patent was asserted. In the U.S. form of government, people are peers of companies. Full petition text. --James S. 04:18, 14 March 2006 (UTC)[reply]

News

Well, the patent is about to expire, and suddenly the world press is full of articles: by date; Here is the latest at present; some peer-reviewed work; now known also as "Sparlon,"for skin rashes and child ADHD; apparently this has been an "off-label" treatment for years; comparison with coffee for wakefulness; financial news; FDA panel reversal on ADHD.

I predict they will close my petition, or keep it open, but not grant it. However, I predict that within a few weeks of April 1st (the patent expiration date), that the company which had the withdrawn generics application will challenge the particle size patent, asking for injunctive relief, thereby circumventing the generics application process. This drug is not usually excluded from insurers' formularies. --James S. 20:58, 24 March 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Vigicer or vigicer?

Where does the name "Vigicer" come from? It is not in MEDLINE or the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's TESS, live or dead. However, there is no shortages of google hits for it from "without a prescription" pharmacies. Is Vigicer the black/grey-market name?

Should it be capitalized? --James S. 21:11, 24 March 2006 (UTC)[reply]

It is the marketed name of the drug, so it would be Vigicer. It's a proper noun. — tomohawk 15:53, 17 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Histamine

Just corrected some spelling and stuff and added some additional European names. A lot of info on this page is quite 'US-centric' (no offence meant!) such as patents, legality etc - added some UK stuff.

The section on histamine suggested that modafinil works on H3 only, could not find any evidence for this so changed to statement about promoting histamine release. Berry 09:49, 26 April 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Modafinil is a reliable medicine against narcolepsy, sleep-apnoe-sydrome and good by shift-working. But you cannot expect wonder of this. you will not "pull out trees" with it. So the effect is more modest in this.--Fackel 20:20, 30 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

C-fos

"by greatly elevating c-fos expression"

Thought this was unnecessarily scientific and there is no real info anywhere about what this gene is or does. Am life sciences student and myself have never heard of it! If anyone wants to put it back in, then please write something like 'by greatly elevating the expression of c-fos, a -------." Berry 21:00, 22 June 2006 (UTC)[reply]