Modafinil: Price, Dosage & Where to Buy

Modafinil is a wakefulness-promoting medicine used to improve excessive sleepiness in adults with narcolepsy. It acts on brain signals involved in staying awake and is also listed for sleepiness linked to obstructive sleep apnoea or shift work disorder. Modafinil requires a prescription in the United Kingdom, and treatment may not bring wakefulness fully back to normal.

Modafinil belongs to a group of medicines that promote wakefulness. It affects chemical signals in the brain that help control alertness and sleep. One of these signals is dopamine.

Modafinil slows the process that removes dopamine from the spaces between nerve cells, allowing this signal to remain active for longer. Its wakefulness-promoting effects involve brain systems that regulate alertness, rather than correcting a blocked airway or the underlying cause of every sleep disorder.

Modafinil is indicated to improve wakefulness in adults with excessive sleepiness associated with narcolepsy, obstructive sleep apnoea or shift work disorder. Its role is to reduce sleepiness rather than treat every aspect of these conditions. In obstructive sleep apnoea, it does not treat the underlying blockage of the airway.

Where continuous positive airway pressure, known as CPAP, is the chosen treatment, the label calls for adequate efforts to use CPAP before modafinil is started and during treatment. Some people may still experience excessive sleepiness while receiving modafinil.

The label lists oral tablets in strengths of 100 mg and 200 mg. The label lists 200 mg once a day as a single morning dose for narcolepsy or obstructive sleep apnoea. The label lists 200 mg once a day as a single dose approximately 1 hour before the start of a work shift for shift work disorder.

The label lists doses up to 400 mg/day as well tolerated, but reports no consistent evidence of additional benefit beyond 200 mg/day. The label lists a reduction to half the recommended dose in people with severe liver impairment. The label lists consideration of lower doses and close monitoring in older people.

These are label dosing facts, rather than a personal treatment plan. The prescribed regimen depends on the condition being treated and the prescriber's assessment. Persistent sleepiness may still need reassessment during treatment.

The label specifies storage at 20º to 25ºC and dispensing in a tight container. Keep the container securely closed and keep the medicine out of the sight and reach of children.

A missed dose may affect wakefulness that day. Do not double a dose to make up for one that was missed. Because modafinil promotes wakefulness and can cause difficulty sleeping, ask a pharmacist or prescriber about a dose remembered late in the day or outside the prescribed schedule.

There are no adequate, well-controlled studies of modafinil in pregnant women. Restricted growth before birth and miscarriage have been reported with modafinil and armodafinil, but whether the medicines caused these events is unknown. Animal studies suggest potential harm to the unborn baby.

The label states that use during pregnancy should occur only when the potential benefit justifies the potential risk. It is not known whether modafinil or its breakdown products pass into human breast milk, so caution is advised during breastfeeding.