Why You Can Skip New Insomnia Drug (‘Consumer Reports’)

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Two Dartmouth physicians commissioned by Consumer Reports to review the new sleep drug Belsomra found that it barely works and poses safety concerns, the consumer website reports.

Steven Woloshin and Lisa Schwartz, who are both professors of community and family medicine at the Geisel School of Medicine and The Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice, were asked to review the research and prepare a Drug Facts Box for Belsomra. Schwartz served on an FDA advisory committee of experts that looked at Belsomra in 2013, according to Consumer Reports.

“Their analysis shows that people who took a 15 mg or 20 mg dose of Belsomra every night for three months fell asleep just six minutes faster on average than those who got a placebo pill. And the Belsomra group slept only 16 minutes longer—six hours and 12 minutes total versus five hours and 56 minutes for the placebo group,” writes the magazine.

Read the full story, published 7/13/15 by Consumer Reports.

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