Of the $ 2,836,088 in «direct public support» the NSF received in 2005 (the most recent IRS disclosure I could find), it seems that $ 470,000 came from Pfizer, which in 2005 was primping for the debut of the
sleep - aid
drug Indiplon, which it has since dropped; $ 299,000 came from GlaxoSmithKline, makers of Sominex; $ 152,000 from King
Pharmaceuticals (Sonata); $ 596,670 from Sanofi Aventis (Ambien); $ 471,800 from Takeda
Pharmaceuticals (Rozerem); $ 133,183 from Sepracor (Lunesta); $ 100,000 from the hepcats over at Jazz
Pharmaceuticals, who make the narcolepsy
drug Xyrem; and $ 100,000 from Cephalon, maker of another
drug used for narcolepsy, Provigil.
I've never agreed with taking
sleeping pills, because I always feared the dreaded groggyness that usually occurs the following morning as well as other side effects that come along with taking
pharmaceutical drugs.
While there are plenty of
sleep drugs available to treat everything from insomnia to restless legs syndrome, they haven't stopped the
pharmaceutical industry from searching for newer, more effective, and more profitable medications.