So is this The Brain Booster Of The Future?
Essentially the most widely used prescription medications of the past ten years, modafinil comes with a fascinating history. Created in France in the late 1980s as an experimental remedy for narcolepsy, modafinil was approved for prescription use by the FDA in 1998. however, it was not until the mid naughts that the medication truly caught on in America. What happened?
Marketed as a sleep-disorder medication by pharmaceutical maker Cephalon and sold under the brand name Provigil, sales of modafinil were merely $25 million in 1999. 8 years which are short later (2007), revenues topped $800 million — making it much more profitable compared to Adderall or Viagra. Even though sales would later on decline due to generic erosion, Provigil remains the most popular wakefulness promoting agent (or eugeroic) sold by prescription. Ironically, it’s the basic fact that modafinil is mostly used off-label that is behind its stunning success in the States.
Early fame
Vastly superior to amphetamines as well as amphetamine-like stimulants because it doesn’t lead to addiction, jitteriness, crashing, and other negative effects, modafinil was famously put on by U.S. soldiers who had to remain awake for days on end when fighting in Iraq. Tales of the efficacy of its shortly reached the house front, as well as sales of Provigil continuously rose.
Limitless and beyond
In the 2011 film Limitless, a character played by actor Bradley Cooper exponentially increases the brainpower of his by taking an experimental nootropic drug called NZT 48. Because art often imitates life, there is compelling evidence that the fictional mind booster was founded on modafinil. How can we understand?
By the time the movie was in production, modafinil became a poorly-kept secret of the powerful and rich. Wildly widely used on Wall Street, it was said to increase concentration, mental acuity, and productivity. Labelled an intelligent drug (or appetite suppressant drops (click through the next article) nootropic) because it reputedly enhanced 1 or more areas of cognitive function, it was the stuff of legend for anyone that needed for getting ahead. It’s no surprise the prescription drug is found in the medicine cabinets of one-percenters the earth over. But what about the majority of us?
Limiting the unlimited