The first new treatment in 40 years for narcolepsy can help to keep the disease's victims from falling instantly asleep. The Food and Drug Administration approved Cephalon's Provigil. The drug helps patients stay awake without the rush and crash of standard stimulants. The drug is chemically different from amphetamines and other stimulants that narcoleptics now use.
Nobody knows if the new drug fights sleepiness as well as stimulants.
Those problems frequently make narcoleptics abandon the other treatments. Narcolepsy afflicts an estimated 125,000 Americans. They suffer irrepressible sleep attacks throughout the day.