2008 Woodie Awards
Insomnia pills cause interesting side effects
Todd Costello
Issue date: 4/13/07 Section: Opinion
Originally published: 4/12/07 at 5:23 PM EST
Last update: 4/12/07 at 5:23 PM EST
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Insomnia seems as common as the "freshman 15" in college. I can't speak for the rest of the student body, but unless I'm passing out on the weekends, sleep doesn't come easy when you have about 20 assignments due within the next week.
My body gets tired but my mind is wired.
I find myself shutting the television off at night, only to be kept awake by the sound of my teeth grinding.
In a nutshell, I guess you can say I'm slightly stressed out. If you're like me, you know how much it sucks not getting proper sleep and you feel like everybody else in the world is in their fifth dream as you sit on the edge of your bed watching infomercials and crappy movies.
After stumbling over an article while doing some research on a past column on HPV vaccines, I realized that there are millions going through the same routine that I do - 60 million people to be exact.
According to a New York Times article, there were 60 million prescriptions written for insomnia medication last year.
Wow.
Two well-known insomnia medications - Ambien and Lunesta - exceeded $3 billion in sales. The only reason I found this information was because the drug's producer, Merck, just cancelled an insomnia product they were going to put on the market.
Merck is the same company that released Vioxx - a pill taken off the market for safety reasons including strokes and cardiovascular risks.
Merck also just released the HVP vaccine, Gardasil.
So, you can see that Merck is a pretty well-known company and is raking in profits by the billions. The insomnia medication they were hoping to bring to the market - Gaboxadol - had some interesting side effects.
Unusual side effects such as hallucination and disorientation occurred in testing the medication, which forced them to withdraw the drug that was estimated to make between $250 million and $500 million in profits.
I had two reactions to this news:
First, I have to get into the insomnia medication business.
My body gets tired but my mind is wired.
I find myself shutting the television off at night, only to be kept awake by the sound of my teeth grinding.
In a nutshell, I guess you can say I'm slightly stressed out. If you're like me, you know how much it sucks not getting proper sleep and you feel like everybody else in the world is in their fifth dream as you sit on the edge of your bed watching infomercials and crappy movies.
After stumbling over an article while doing some research on a past column on HPV vaccines, I realized that there are millions going through the same routine that I do - 60 million people to be exact.
According to a New York Times article, there were 60 million prescriptions written for insomnia medication last year.
Wow.
Two well-known insomnia medications - Ambien and Lunesta - exceeded $3 billion in sales. The only reason I found this information was because the drug's producer, Merck, just cancelled an insomnia product they were going to put on the market.
Merck is the same company that released Vioxx - a pill taken off the market for safety reasons including strokes and cardiovascular risks.
Merck also just released the HVP vaccine, Gardasil.
So, you can see that Merck is a pretty well-known company and is raking in profits by the billions. The insomnia medication they were hoping to bring to the market - Gaboxadol - had some interesting side effects.
Unusual side effects such as hallucination and disorientation occurred in testing the medication, which forced them to withdraw the drug that was estimated to make between $250 million and $500 million in profits.
I had two reactions to this news:
First, I have to get into the insomnia medication business.
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