The brain may be about to have its Ozempic moment
Drugmakers are betting that orexins, peptides that regulate wakefulness, could become the next blockbuster class after GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic. Just as GLP-1 revolutionized weight loss, orexin-based treatments might transform the management of sleep and neurological disorders. The Economist explores the science and the commercial potential.
Drugmakers are now betting that others, the orexins, could follow a similar path.
- Rzor
- midtake
The article is about modulating orexins in the brain. Orexin receptor agonism was thought to be a mechanism of modafinil/armodafinil but this isn't mentioned anywhere in the article. Modafinil is mentioned as a mere stimulant. It sort of makes me want to dismiss the article as manufactured hype for a new class of modafinil successors.
- nemomarx
I feel like I'd want the opposite of this - something that mimics the cleaning process of sleep that you could use in the afternoon for a nap or etc.
- petercooper
Not to take away from the broader point, but modafinil is lumped in with methylphenidate as a stimulant that "increase[s] the activity of neurotransmitters such as dopamine and norepinephrine". Modafinil does also stimulate the orexin system and is part of why it's so effective for wakefulness and not as a stimulant in the medium/long-term.
- egypturnash
Consider: Beggars in Spain. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/68333.Beggars_in_Spain
- whyleyc
- creatonez
"Ozempic moment" seems like a manufactured buzzword in this context. A new modafinil variant is nothing like Ozempic. The thing that was actually interesting about Ozempic wasn't its windfall profits, it was the fact that it is a new class of drugs, and the fact that it's able to rather directly target a habit without wreaking havoc on the body. Part of the article mentions there is hope it may be useful for depression, ADHD, and addiction, but whether any of this is actually actually effective is up in the air. Lots of things are in "pharmaceutical companies hope it can treat mental illness" status... but trying to cast an image of being on the verge of a breakthrough is big pharma's whole marketing.
- hoppp
It sounds to me like something that's quite dangerious. Maybe it helps people with narcolepsy but maybe it will be another thing people abuse like amphetamines?