Wonder drug beats sleep loss

[emad]

August 23, 2005

Wonder drug beats sleep loss
By Mark Henderson, Science Correspondent



The clouding effects of sleep deprivation on the brain can be reversed by a new drug developed with funding from the United States military.

Tests on monkeys found that when the animals were denied sleep for the equivalent of three days in human beings, the drug, CX717, temporarily restored their performance at mental tasks to normal levels.

The findings suggest that CX717 could help soldiers, doctors and shift workers to function much more efficiently on little or no sleep. It could even be used to improve alertness in well-rested people.

Cortex Pharmaceuticals carried out the trials at Wake Forest University, in North Carolina, with the backing of the US Defence Department. Preliminary studies on people had also been positive, though this research remains unpublished.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspaper/0,,171-1746418,00.html

[whistle]

1. Legalized methamphetamines eh.....

[skids]

2. Known on the street as amphetamine...

:evilgrin:

[dogday]

3. Mass Labor Drug

Sounds like something they will bring to the Corporations so they can achieve a better performance out of their employees. I know sick thought...

[LizMoonstar]

4. creepy possible uses, but it could really help people like me.

i have some sort of unclassifiable fatigue problem, and 10 hours of sleep a night still isn't enough. Until they can figure out what's wrong, something like this could help me live more normally.

[Fridays Child]

5. B*sh's New Freedom Initiative will take note of this, no doubt.

Just think: corporations can downsize their employee numbers and run two shifts instead of three.

[benburch]

6. Two shifts!? ONE SHIFT.

One shift 24/7 for your whole life. You are just a production unit.

[Algorem]

7. Pentagon's new speed. Faster,Uncle Sam hitman! Kill! Kill!

Drug's promise: Think fast on no sleep
Experimental compound improves cognitive performance and reverses effects of sleep deprivation

http://www.betterhumans.com/News/4504/Default.aspx

An experimental drug has improved cognitive performance and reversed the effects of sleep deprivation in a primate model.

The drug, Ampakine CX717, is under development by Cortex Pharmaceuticals of Irvine, California.

CX717 is part of a class of molecules called ampakines that enhance how certain chemical receptors work in the brain. CX717 prolongs the action of glutamate...

According to a Cortex press release, the company is already conducting clinical trials for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and for night shift workers with sponsorship from the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)...