Insomnia is a problem for 20% of Italians, but a new drug is on the way: it is able to block orexin, one of the main neurotransmitters which affects sleep.
The novelty was presented at the national Congress of the Italian Society of Neuropsychopharmacology SINPF, underway in Milan and Venice.
Over a third of the world population is affected by insomnia and/or sleep disorders, 20% in Italy, in many cases in a chronic form: persistent symptoms in 80% of cases after 1 year from diagnosis and in 60% of cases at 5 years old.
'White nights' which can be further aggravated by the co-presence of possible psychiatric or psycho-emotional disorders, mainly depression and anxiety.
A domino effect in which the pandemic also played its role.
In the field of insomnia, however, something could change today, thanks to the discovery of a new antagonist capable of acting on orexin, a real 'conductor', blocking its activity on two receptors.
This is confirmed by two studies recently published in the Lancet and in the Sleep Journal.
The new molecule is called daridorexant and acts with a different target than traditional drugs, such as benzodiazepines and Z-drugs (zolpidem, zopiclone, eszopiclone).
Daridorexant regulates sleep-wake cycles that are altered in those suffering from sleep disorders, thus allowing even greater performance in carrying out daytime functions.
As further added values, a favorable safety profile and reduction of adverse effects.
Insomnia, explains Claudio Mencacci, director emeritus of psychiatry at the Fatebenefratelli hospital in Milan and co-president of SINPF, "is dissatisfaction with the quantity or quality of sleep, associated with the difficulty in initiating and maintaining sleep for at least 3 months.This is therefore disturbed by frequent awakenings,
with a consequent impact on daytime hours". Today, underlines Matteo Balestrieri, Full Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Udine and SINPF co-president, "we have ad hoc therapies that allow us to personalize treatment.
The new drugs that act on orexin, of which today thanks to the extension of the prescribability the psychiatrist can also take advantage, allow to obtain benefits in the face of the containment of the social and welfare costs of insomnia".