A generic version is now (OFFICIALLY) available for Ambien® (zolpidem), a widely prescribed sleep aid. Since Ambien lost patent protection on April 21, the price for zolpidem has dropped from more than $4 to less than 25 cents per tablet, or $100 per month to less than $10. The price of Ambien® increased by over 30 percent in the last year.

The Food and Drug Administration said it approved versions of the immediate-release tablets (of Ambien) made by 13 drug companies for the short-term treatment of insomnia. A patent held by Paris-based Sanofi-Aventis on the drug, also called zolpidem tartrate, expired Saturday.

I suggest giving a trial period when you take a pill like ambien. You definitely don’t want to try it the night before you go on a trip. Having someone, either a spouse, significant other or friend to be there with you so they can look out for any possible side effects that may occur, especially in light of the recent news.

Pharmaceutical sleep aids. In 2006, consumers spent $3.6 billion on prescription sleep medications, up 29% from 2005, according to health care and pharmaceutical consulting company IMS Health. It reports that more than 48 million sleep-aid prescriptions were written last year

More than a dozen reports of patients having sex, binge eating, driving or making telephone calls while taking sleeping pills have been submitted to the FDA, said Russell Katz, director of the agency’s neurology division. The patients didn’t remember what they did.

While no studies have been done to see if there’s a correlation between caffeine intake and the use of sleeping pills, it’s clear that more people need help to keep their eyes shut.

Compared with the placebo pill and standard care groups, the zolpidem group did not show greater CPAP usage in terms of total days used or average time used per night over the course of four weeks.

The main difference between all of them [eszopiclone, zaleplon, zolpidem], except for half-life, may be that the manufacturer of Lunesta sponsored a 6-month trial and submitted the results to the FDA, while the other 2 manufacturers did not.

The American Psychological Association (APA) recently published a study on the new sleep aid ramelteon ( brand name Rozerem). The focus of the study was abuse and tolerance. The gist of it is that ramelteon, marketed by Takeda as Rozerem, has a totally different method of action from all other sleeping […]

For every 10 percent increase in advertising for a given type of medicine, prescription sales for the category rise 1 percent, according to a 2003 study by the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation