Insomnia is a major medical and psychiatric condition in this country. Twenty percent to 49% of Americans aged 65 years and older report symptoms of chronic insomnia. It is important to patients affected with insomnia to find the underlying cause and to seek treatment. Pharmacists can play an important role in counseling patients suffering from insomnia.

Insomnia, a common sleep disorder, affects more than 70 million Americans. According to the National Sleep Foundation's 2005 Sleep in America poll, about 75% of adults have experienced a symptom of a sleep problem a few nights a week or more in the past year.

To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there's the rub," wrote Shakespeare in Hamlet several centuries ago. And that still appears to be true: According to recent estimates, about 20% of the American population is afflicted with intermittent or chronic sleep problems. But how much of a health problem is this?

For the estimated 70 million people in the United States suffering from insomnia the availability of a novel treatment option would be welcome relief. Takeda, which recently submitted an NDA to the FDA, hopes its compound, ramelteon (TAK-375), will meet that challenge. Ramelteon is a novel selective melatonin (ML-1) receptor antagonist developed by Takeda for the treatment of insomnia. According to the firm, this is the first new mechanism of action to be developed in 35 years in the area of sleep research.

Continuing Education - Treatment of insomnia in the elderly.

new guidelines issued for the management of insomnia