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The FDA has declined to approve an application for use of an alertness drug, Nuvigil, to treat jet lag. <\/p>\n
Nuvigil is a slightly longer-lasting form of the best-selling sleep apnea and narcolepsy drug, Provigil.<\/p>\n
From the NYT:<\/p>\n
Cephalon’s clinical trial involved 427 volunteers who were flown from the East Coast of the United States to France, then kept in a sleep lab for three days. As measured by electrodes placed on the scalp, those who took Nuvigil were less sleepy during the French daytime than those who were given a placebo.<\/p>\n
In a more subjective test, in which participants were asked how sleepy they felt, the drug also did better than placebo, but not as convincingly. <\/p><\/blockquote>\n
The FDA does not comment on applications it does not approve. Would you take a drug like this for jet lag? It’s not supposed to sync your body clock or anything — it’s just supposed to keep you awake. Like coffee, with less peeing.<\/p>\n