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Provigil More Addictive than Previously Thought? Jury’s Still Out…

• Caroline says: I'm not sure about this post. As someone who experiences profound MS fatigue on a regular basis, I completely embrace the opinion that if you have to deal with MS and something can help alleviate your symptoms and make it possible for you to get through the day and not be in a catatonic state and even help you to be a productive member of society, than you should by all means try it. I took Provigil (modafinil; Cephalon) for several years with great results and then it just stopped working. I had zero issue with addiction; I stopped taking it because it stopped working. Drug tolerance is different than drug addiction, and this study was done on 10 healthy adult men.

Cephalon’s Provigil could carry risk of addiction, according to study data
by Mark Todoruk

Study data measuring the effects of Cephalon’s sleep disorder drug Provigil (modafinil) on dopamine levels showed a potential risk for addiction in patients who took the product, according to a study published in JAMA. Lead author Nora Volkow commented that the treatment “may have more abuse potential than originally believed.”

In the study, which was conducted over an eight-month period, 10 healthy adult men were given one of two dosages of Provigil, or placebo. Findings showed an increase of dopamine in patients who received the compound, and Volkow explained that this increase is “the signature for drugs that have the potential for producing addiction.” The FDA-approved label for Provigil warns of potential for misuse or abuse, and the researcher noted that she is not suggesting stronger label warnings at this time. Volkow said, however, that physicians should “be alert to the possibility that [Provigil] could produce addiction.”

In response to the news, Cephalon’s chief scientific officer Jeffrey Vaught stated that Provigil’s influence on dopamine is “weak” and “very different from amphetamines,” with a low potential for abuse. Provigil is “for pathological sleep disruption, not for people who’ve stayed awake for 24 hours,” Vaught said, adding that “to date, we’ve just not seen any signals that there’s a problem” with addiction or abuse.

Provigil is indicated by the FDA to treat patients suffering from narcolepsy, obstructive sleep apnoea and shift-work sleep disorder.

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