Title:Daridorexant, a Recently Approved Dual Orexin Receptor Antagonists
(DORA) in the Treatment of Insomnia
Volume: 15
Issue: 2
Author(s): Dwaipayan S. Chakraborty*, Shouvik Choudhury and Sandeep Lahiry
Affiliation:
- Department of Cardiology and Intensive Care Medicine, Belle Vue Clinic, Kolkata, West Bengal, India
Keywords:
Insomnia, day-time, orexin, tolerance, withdrawal, hypnotics.
Abstract: Insomnia is one of the major challenges in medical science nowadays as it leads to the
great socio-economic burden by impairing daytime function as well as the development of
exhaustion, depression and memory disturbance in affected individuals. Several important classes
of drugs have been tried including the BZDs and Non-BZD hypnotics. Available drugs to combat
this disease have the limitations of abuse potential, tolerance and cognitive impairments. In some
instances, withdrawal symptoms have been observed on abrupt cessation of those drugs. The
Orexin system has been very recently targeted as a therapeutic option to overcome those
limitations. Daridorexant as a Dual Orexin Receptor Antagonists (DORA) in the treatment of
insomnia has been evaluated in several preclinical and clinical studies. Available information
obtained from those studies has shown promising future for this drug in the management of
insomnia. Beyond its effectiveness in insomnia, it has been successfully used in patients suffering
from Obstructive sleep apnoea, Chronic Obstructive Airway Disease (COAD), Alzheimer’s
Disease (AD), hypertension and cardiovascular disorders. Larger studies need to address the safety
issues as well as obtain robust pharmacovigilance information to safeguard the risk-benefit aspect
of this drug in insomniac adults.
