One of the most popular prescription medications of the past ten years, modafinil comes with a fascinating history. Developed in France in the late 1980s as an experimental treatment for narcolepsy, modafinil was sanctioned for prescription use by the FDA in 1998. But it wasn't until the mid-naughts that the drug really caught on in America. What happened?
Sold as a sleep-disorder medicine by pharmaceutical maker Cephalon and offered under the brand name Provigil, sales of modafinil were simply $25 million in 1999. 8 short years later (2007), revenues topped $800 million -- making it even more lucrative than Adderall or Viagra. Even though sales would later on drop because of generic erosion, Provigil is still the most popular wakefulness promoting representative (or eugeroic) sold by prescription. Ironically, it's the point that modafinil is primarily used off-label that is behind the stunning success of its in the States.

Soon celebrity
Vastly better than amphetamines as well as amphetamine-like stimulants since it does not lead to addiction, jitteriness, crashing, as well as other adverse effects, modafinil was famously put on by U.S. troops that needed to keep awake for days on end when fighting in Iraq. Tales of its efficacy soon reached the home front, as well as sales of Provigil continuously rose.

Limitless and beyond
In the 2011 film Limitless, a character played by actor Bradley Cooper exponentially boosts his brainpower by taking an experimental nootropic drug called NZT-48. Because art often imitates life, there is evidence which is powerful that the fictional mind booster was founded on modafinil. How can we understand?
By the time the film was in production, modafinil was a poorly-kept secret of the powerful and rich. Wildly widely used on Wall Street, it was said to increase productivity, mental acuity, and concentration. Labelled an intelligent drug (or perhaps nootropic) because it reputedly enhanced 1 or perhaps more aspects of cognitive function, it was the stuff of legend for any individual that was looking for appetite suppressant otc - click here to read - getting ahead. It's no surprise the prescription drug can be found in the medicine cabinets of one-percenters the earth over. But what about the remainder of us?

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