Worldwide Market for Lunivia (eszopiclone) Uncertain

Implications: Though the potential international market for eszopiclone is large, interest in the product among sleep specialists in the US has leveled off.  Its success internationally may well depend more on distancing the product from other agents such as the Ambien "family," a decidedly difficult task, and on continuing to downplay the major side effect of bad taste, and less on the size of the potential patient population.  For many prescribers, it has become apparent that Lunesta is new but not necessarily improved.

Analysis: The market for Lunivia is an uncertain one, despite the optimism that attends this press release.  Interest in the product among sleep specialists in the US has leveled off, in part because many patients complain of bad taste from the drug.  Moreover, insurers complain the drug causes a bad taste for them because of its cost, so that patients may well be steered to cheaper and generic substitutes.  Finally, Lunesta has been felt by many to be "new and unimproved," vs. the many other sleep agents on the market, and it is still associated with the potential for long-term dependence (so is everything else except Rozerem).  As Ambien maintains a firm grip on much of this market, and as generic Ambien begins its ascendancy in the U.S. market, the marketing of Lunivia elsewhere appears to be a difficult road ahead.