Modafinil is a drug approved by the US FDA for the treatment of patients suffering from excessive sleepiness associated with narcolepsy, obstructive sleep apnea and shift work sleep disorder.

Now, this "wake-up pill" has been found to control the depressive symptoms associated with bipolar disorder - a condition characterized by an alternating pattern of emotional highs (mania) and lows (depression),which (according to the National Institute of Mental Health) is suffered by some 5.7 million adults in the United States.

Appearing in the August 2007 issue of the American Journal of Psychiatry, according to the study's author, Mark Frye, M.D., director of the Mayo Clinic Mood Disorders Clinic and Research Program:

At least 44 percent of the participants in the study reported improved symptoms, a noteworthy improvement for a disorder in which new treatments are needed.

There are very few treatments for the depressive phase of bipolar disorder and as a result there is an urgent need to evaluate potential new.

Mood stabilizers in general are better at treating mania than depression, but the depressive phase of the illness is far more common. We really need continued research in this area."

Modafinil is manufactured by Cephalon Inc. and is sold under the brand name Provigil.

Source: Mayo Clinic