GLG News by Physicians who Treat Insomnia (US)

All currently marketed antipsychotic medications for treating  schizophrenia  rely on mechanisms of action  which target  dopamine and  serotonin receptors.  Although these medications reduce delusions and hallucinations without inducing symptoms of Parkinson's Disease...

The focus of Memory Pharmaceuticals & Roche Expansion of their Development Program for MEM 3454 in schizophrenia is symptomatic of a trend in schizophrenia research that has identified cognitive deficits as the fundamental abnormality in brain functioning.  It is an eminently reasonable...

Lundbeck’s pipeline has been gathering some real momentum in recent months, having advanced a number of investigational CNS drugs.  The initiation of this 600 person Phase II study of Lu AA34893 in bipolar depression, yet another Lundbeck drug candidate shrouded in some mystery (ie, we know that...

Talecris' form of IVIG, Gamunex was studied in the largest trial of IVIG in chronic inflammatory polyradiculoneuropathy (CIDP), with more than twice as many patients moving into remission.  CIDP is a common acquired autoimmune peripheral neuropathy, which if not treated, may lead to a peripheral...

New clinical indications add to a drug’s period of FDA market exclusivity (different than patent exclusivity) and is a common strategy used by pharmaceutical companies to generate additional revenue from a drug, in pharmaspeak referred to as creating a “successful lifecycle management” strategy.      ...

Long-acting neuroleptics are extremely beneficial in treatment of non-compliant chronically mentally ill because it allows more medical oversight and assurance of compliance with pharmacotherapy.  Olanzapine is a particularly bad atypical (new generation) neuroleptic when it comes to weight gain...

The long term efficacy of botulinum toxin Type A for the treatment of glabellar frown lines was recently discussed  in San Antonio, Texas at the 66th annual meeting of the American Association of Dermatology. Kawashima and other fellow Japanese investigators presented long-term (64 weeks)...

The NDA submission of Somaxon’s Silenor, a reformulation of the tricyclic antidepressant doxepin at very low doses, for the treatment of insomnia is not particularly compelling news clinically.  Low doses of doxepin provide an anti-histamine effect with less norepinephrine or serotonin reuptake...

When varenicline (Chantix) first became available for use in patients, I was incredibly impressed by how effective it was.  I had one patient who was so addicted to cigarette smoking that he could not sleep through the night without a smoke--he would awake every hour or two and then go back to...

Doxepin was developed as an antidepressant nearly 40 years ago.  It has been used by generations of psychiatrists for its sedating and sleep promoting actions, much as many other of the sedating antidepressants of yore.  Now it is being developed as a treatment of insomnia--the one twist is...