Expected to provide new hope for over 200 million people with insomnia: Xiansheng Pharmaceutical's new generation of innovative anti insomnia drugs have been approved in clinical trials for sleep | drugs | Xiansheng

Release time:Apr 14, 2024 07:57 AM

On July 20th, the new anti insomnia drug Daridorexant hydrochloride tablets, jointly developed by Xiansheng Pharmaceutical and Idorsia, Switzerland, have been approved for clinical trials by the National Medical Products Administration. They are intended for the treatment of adult insomnia patients whose symptoms persist for at least 3 months and have an impact on daytime function. Overseas clinical studies have shown that this drug can significantly improve sleep onset and maintenance in people with insomnia, prolong sleep time, support safe long-term medication, and is expected to bring better treatment to a large number of chronic insomnia patients in China.

Daridorexant is a dual orexin receptor antagonist, which is different from traditional insomnia drugs that promote sleep by calming the brain. It blocks the activation of orexin receptors, reduces arousal drive, promotes sleep, and maintains sleep status without changing the patient's sleep structure. No residual effects of the next day were observed.

The subjects who received 50 milligrams of Daridorexant treatment showed a significant decrease in sleep latency by 34.8 minutes in the third month of treatment, a significant decrease in wakefulness time by 29.4 minutes after falling asleep, and a significant increase in self-reported total sleep time by 57.7 minutes. Based on this calculation, patients taking this medication are equivalent to gaining nearly an entire night's sleep per week.

According to the National Health Commission's guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders, the prevalence of insomnia in the Chinese population ranges from 10% to 20%, which means that out of 1.3 billion people, 200 to 300 million suffer from insomnia, but the medical treatment rate is less than 30%. Many people with insomnia mainly rely on medication control to alleviate their condition. At present, the anti insomnia drugs approved for marketing in China are mainly divided into two categories: benzodiazepines represented by alprazolam, estazolam, diazepam, and clonazepam, as well as non benzodiazepines represented by zolpidem and dexzopiclone. But the former is prone to damaging the sleep structure, with significant residual effects the next day, and patients usually feel tired after waking up; The latter's sleep maintenance effect is not ideal, and after medication, it will still wake up repeatedly or early at night. There is a huge space between demand and reality.

The Idorsia research team found that the causes of human insomnia are closely related to appetite hormones. Antagonism of the appetite hormone system can help insomnia patients maintain a natural sleep structure, leading to the development of the dual orexin receptor antagonist Daridorexant. It reduces overactive central arousal by blocking the binding of the awakening neuropeptide, orexin, to its receptors. Because its unique mechanism can reduce arousal drive, induce sleep occurrence, do not change sleep structure, and has no residual effects the next day, it is expected to become a disruptive iteration of traditional insomnia drugs.

The phase III clinical data of Daridorexant has been published in The Lancet Neurology. Compared to placebo, a 50 milligram dose of Daridorexant significantly improved the patient's sleep onset time, sleep maintenance time, and self-reported total sleep time at the first and third months. In addition, no symptoms such as drug dependence, rebound insomnia, abuse, or withdrawal reactions were observed in clinical studies.

In addition, studies have shown that this drug can not only improve nighttime sleep in adults and elderly individuals with chronic insomnia, but also improve daytime function in patients. It is currently the only DORA class insomnia drug approved by the European Medicines Agency to improve daytime function. At present, the drug has obtained clinical data for up to 12 months of continuous treatment, and research results support its safe long-term use.

On November 15, 2022, Xiansheng Pharmaceutical entered into an exclusive licensing agreement with Idorsia, granting Daridorexant exclusive rights for domestic development and commercialization. At present, the drug has been approved for marketing in the United States, United Kingdom, Italy, Germany, Switzerland, and Canada. There is currently no such dual orexin receptor antagonist type insomnia medication on the market in China.

Why is "Cancer King" immunotherapy ineffective? Fudan Cancer Hospital Reveals New Mechanisms of Immunosuppressive Environment for pancreatic cancer CRIP1 | Tumor | pancreatic cancer
Why is "Cancer King" immunotherapy ineffective? Fudan Cancer Hospital Reveals New Mechanisms of Immunosuppressive Environment for pancreatic cancer CRIP1 | Tumor | pancreatic cancer

Immunotherapy has been proven to achieve significant therapeutic effects in various solid tumors. However, for pancreatic cancer, known as the "king of cancer", immunotherapy has been ineffective. On August 4, Professor Yu Xianjun, Dean of the Cancer Hospital Affiliated to Fudan University, and Shi Si, Associate Professor of Pancreatic Surgery released a research achievement, which first found the key role of cysteine rich protein 1 in shaping the immunosuppressive microenvironment of pancreatic cancer, filled the gap in the research field of immunosuppressive microenvironment of pancreatic cancer, and provided a theoretical basis for precise immunotherapy of pancreatic cancer patients. Ductal adenocarcinoma of the pancreas is the main type of pancreatic cancer, accounting for about 90% of all pancreatic cancer. Due to its high malignancy and poor treatment effectiveness, pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma has always been one of the most malignant tumors. In recent years, the level of surgical techniques and comprehensive treatment has been achieved

A 14-year-old girl suffers from a rare eye disease and receives support from a public welfare fund. Symptoms of "I haven't looked in the mirror for a long time" | Patient | Public welfare
A 14-year-old girl suffers from a rare eye disease and receives support from a public welfare fund. Symptoms of "I haven't looked in the mirror for a long time" | Patient | Public welfare

A 14-year-old girl has been experiencing symptoms such as protruding pupils, incomplete eye closure, corneal injury, restricted eye movement, and overall fatigue for several years. The physical discomfort and facial abnormalities caused by eye diseases have made her increasingly reticent, and her temperament is vastly different from before. At the Ophthalmology Department of the Ninth People's Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, the pupil has been diagnosed with a rare thyroid ophthalmopathy combined with myasthenia gravis, which requires prompt treatment. However, considering the young age of the pupil, conventional hormone and radiation therapy cannot be used. Therefore, Zhou Huifang, Deputy Director of Ophthalmology and thyroid ophthalmology expert, has developed a targeted drug combined with surgical treatment plan for it, and targeted drug treatment will be performed first. Three months ago, I was hospitalized for one week with mydriasis and received intravenous targeted drug treatment. Afterwards, I went home for observation and followed up on time

The municipal eye disease prevention and treatment center launched the dry eye diagnosis and treatment studio, and the incidence rate of dry eye in China is about 21% to 30% of the meibomian gland | dry eye | eye disease
The municipal eye disease prevention and treatment center launched the dry eye diagnosis and treatment studio, and the incidence rate of dry eye in China is about 21% to 30% of the meibomian gland | dry eye | eye disease

According to the Statistics of Chinese Dry Eye Expert Consensus, the incidence rate of dry eye in China is about 21%~30%, and it is estimated that there are at least 300 million patients nationwide. The Dry Eye Diagnosis and Treatment Studio of Shanghai Eye Disease Prevention and Treatment Center was officially launched today. In the future, the studio will continuously improve the dry eye diagnosis and treatment standards, and form standardized diagnosis and treatment concepts and service models. Suitable technologies will be promoted to the community, allowing residents to enjoy convenient dry eye diagnosis and treatment services at their doorstep. Executive Dean and Party Secretary Gao Wei stated that this is also one of the livelihood service measures recently launched by the hospital around high-quality development and meeting the needs of the people. It is reported that dry eye syndrome is a chronic ocular surface disease caused by multiple factors. The instability of the tear film or imbalance of the ocular surface microenvironment caused by abnormal quality, quantity, and dynamics of tears can be accompanied by ocular surface inflammatory reactions, tissue damage, and nerve abnormalities, resulting in various discomforts in the eyes

The Ninth Hospital has taken the lead in formulating the world's first consensus on core indicators for clinical evaluation of dental implants, which has been officially published in clinical practice
The Ninth Hospital has taken the lead in formulating the world's first consensus on core indicators for clinical evaluation of dental implants, which has been officially published in clinical practice

The International Dental Implant Consensus Report, jointly written by the Ninth People's Hospital affiliated with Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine and renowned universities in the field of dentistry such as Harvard University, University of Zurich, University of Gothenburg, Columbia University, and University of Frankfurt, has recently been jointly published in top journals in the field of dentistry, including Clinical Periodontology and Clinical Dental Implant Research. This consensus has for the first time established an internationally unified core set of indicators for evaluating the clinical effectiveness of dental implants, covering the five key areas of the field of dental implants. It is of milestone significance for carrying out standardized clinical diagnosis, treatment, and research on dental implants. The core evaluation indicators determined by this consensus will become an important benchmark for scholars in the field of dental implants worldwide to conduct high-quality research. The consensus is composed of 8 top international experts in the field of oral implantation

Recently, autologous hematopoietic stem cell therapy was completed in Shanghai, and British girls born in the 1990s have suffered from multiple relapses of blood diseases, including stem cells, peripheral blood, and diseases
Recently, autologous hematopoietic stem cell therapy was completed in Shanghai, and British girls born in the 1990s have suffered from multiple relapses of blood diseases, including stem cells, peripheral blood, and diseases

Recently, Catherine, a British girl born in the 1990s, received autologous peripheral blood hematopoietic stem cell transfusion at the Cancer Center of Shanghai Jiahui International Hospital, and was successfully discharged from the warehouse. She is now on her way back to China after being discharged from the hospital. She is also the first patient at Shanghai Jiahui International Hospital to complete relevant treatments. In 2019, Catherine was diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma in the UK, and after treatment, the disease completely improved. During her work and life in China in 2021, she went to seek medical attention due to multiple enlarged lymph nodes. Pathological biopsy confirmed a recurrence of Hodgkin's lymphoma, and through combined targeted drug treatment, her condition was temporarily under control. Last year in the second half of the year, when the disease recurred, the girl began to use immunotherapy combined with targeted drugs for treatment. Expert evaluation suggests that for young patients with hematological tumors, the risk of recurrence is high and treatment difficulty is increasing in the future. Autologous hematopoietic stem cell therapy is recommended