vasubandu

Modafinil actually is a unique class of drug because it is not at all like amphetamines. Can remain awake for 40 or more hours without performance deficits. My understanding (not confirmed) is that fighter pilots do not leave the base without it, and the special forces behind lines are on a steady diet. I use it myself, and it is amazing because it simply makes you feel fully awake. If you looked into the current use by the government, you might find a system as widespread and entrenched as that in your book. For what is worth, there is another great story to tell there. It was invented by a French company (Lafon Laboratories) and then licensed for the US to a company called Cephalon. They charged about $15 per pill and it was a billion dollar drug. When the patent expired, companies applied to make generics, and Cephalon immediately sued them for patent infringement over a new isomer patent. The lawsuit was rather dubious, but the case settled almost immediately. Cephalon paid those companies $300 million not to make a generic for 6 years. Called a reverse settlement. The FTC brought an antitrust action, which was assigned the federal judge with the slowest docket in the country. The AG then proceeded to do absolutely nothing. I spoke to the Assistant AG on the case, and he said that they did not press these cases too hard out of concern that it could go to the Supreme Court and result in a ruling that reverse settlements are OK under patent law. I mentioned that doing nothing produced the same result, and he seemed perplexed by the idea. When the 6 years came up, one company had priority rights to make the generic. It then merged with Cephalon. I think it bought Cephalon. Modafinil was approved by the FDA in 1998. The patent expired in 2002. The FTC filed its antitrust lawsuit in 2008. The agreement not to make it expired in 2012. Here we are in 2017, and the generic version of this old drug now has a $20 retail price and costs about $3 per pill with a discount card. Every generic pill I have seen comes with a "Provigil" (brand name) stamp. I have log thought about writing a book about this because it is such a great story on so many levels, but that is not going to happen. I am an attorney so I see it through that prism. You might enjoy looking into it.

Today's military (and other) extensively uses Modafinil, which is a wakefulness agent? Are you familiar with that, and do you draw any parallels?

Yes I did. Actually Armodafinil, which is the isomer. Supposedly more effective, but I seem to prefer the original. I take it every day.

You are most welcome. I am told that I am a "different" kind of lawyer. I most get involved in complicated messes after some other attorney quit or was fired. Securities, real estate, business litigation type stuff, but anything that is interesting. All of that was off the top of my head. If you are really interested, I could pull some stuff together for you. I do think that there is an important story in there about how the drug system works, how patents are being used to squash competition, how drugs are being systemically used by the government, reverse settlements and the power of money. Also, Modafinil is one of the few proven nootropics (smart drugs) that improve memory and other aspects of thinking. I call it brain candy. I get mine from India through a company located in the Cayman Islands. Modafinil is a Schedule IV drug in the US and ranges from Schedule I to OTC in other parts of the world. There is even comedy. Cephalon's isomer patent was for a new variety that they called Nuvigil instead of Provigil.

All my life, I have mostly felt drowsy, or tired. Fatigued. I have problems going to sleep and more getting up. I have to drag my ass out of bed every morning and stumble to the shower. I see those scenes on TV where people wake up, stretch their arms and get up ready to face the day. Then my neurologist gave me some modafinil samples, and I took one the next morning. Half an hour later, I stretch my arms and hopped out of bed ready to face the day, fully awake and alert, but not buzzed in any way. I smacked my forehead and explained, "Damn, I am alive!" I have never tried the extended wakeful state thing.

Greetings. I have two sons, 14 and 11, and I try to talk to them about the consequences that choices they make will have. But I also tell them that later on in life, they will laugh about most horrible things that they encounter. Do you have a sense if in 10 years, this will be something that makes you laugh or that still causes you pain? I ask because your story might make a good life less for them. Thanks.

p.s. oh, and that will not include hunting down the video. Sorry, but that just seems wrong.