Merck Press Release (06/13/12)
Merck presented data from two Phase III efficacy trials for its sleep medicine suvorexant at the SLEEP 2012 conference on June 13. Those trials found that suvorexant, which is designed to target and block chemicals in the brain that can cause insomnia, was able to significantly reduce the amount of time that it took participants to fall asleep compared to a placebo. Patients who took part in Trial 1 reported at the three-month point that suvorexant was able to reduce the amount of time it took them to fall asleep by nearly 26 minutes, while the placebo reduced the amount of time it took them to fall asleep by more than 17 minutes. At the same point in Trial 2, patients reported that they fell asleep 33.7 minutes faster when taking suvorexant, while taking a placebo helped them fall asleep 20.5 minutes faster. The studies also found that suvorexant was able to increase the amount of time that participants were able to stay asleep as early as the first night. Participants in Trial 1 spent 58 fewer minutes awake on the fir

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