For more than 30% of our life we sleep. Sleep is of extreme importance for the metabolism and immune system. Neurotransmitter are released during the night regulating our sleep.Sleep disorders are group of conditions that impair the ability to sleep, often resulting in daytime sleepiness. They affect over 200 million people worldwide.

More than 80 sleep disorders have been identified. E.g.

• Insomnia (lack of sleepiness at the normal time for rest)
• Restless legs syndrome (RLS) (one of the many forms of
sleep disturbances)
• Narcolepsy (a disease condition with excessive sleepiness
during day time) and
• Obstructive Sleep Apnoea / Hypopnea Syndrome (OSAHS)
(cause of major sleep disturbance resulting in excessive
sleepiness during day time)

Visiongain predicts that the value of the world insomnia market will be $1.8bn in 2012 with a 7-year Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of -13.5%. The sleep disorders market has been dominated by medications for insomnia treatment. The insomnia market has been dominated by zolpidem tartrate. The major market share of this medication is in the US, where it is sold as Ambien. Other proprietary name for this medication is Stilnox, Stilnoct, and Myslee; the name variation is based on the country where the medication is marketed. As significant portion of the population is affected by these disorders, the potential market for sleep disorders treatment is large. It is estimated that over 20% of the US population (60 million) suffer from chronic insomnia. In the seven major world markets for sleep medications: France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain, the UK and the US, approximately 150 million people are affected by chronic insomnia.

Several new products for insomnia treatment have come into the market in the US since 2005, which are two non-benzodizepine hypnotics Lunesta and Ambien CR and one non-scheduled hypnotic Rozerem. Market penetration of inexpensively available generic versions of zolpidem will also affect the market share of these new products in the US. Lunesta, the only nonbenzodiazepine hypnotic with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval for long term use, is the lone strong contender for zolpidem market. Sonata has the niche market status as it has a relatively short half-life in comparison with other nonbenzodiazepine hypnotics. However, Sonata has not been a formidable challenge to Ambien in the years since 2005.

The market for sleep medications is focused on producing sleep medications that have lesser side-effect profile and low risk of overdose. Medications targeting specific receptor subtypes have become available in the market. The hypnotics (benzodiazepines and non-benzodiazepines) marketed for insomnia activate GABAA receptors in the brain which trigger a generalised suppressive effect on the central nervous system (CNS). Common side effects of GABA activating medications include risk of developing tolerance to the drug, impairment of physiological functions of the body before its elimination from the body, and the potential for causing a sensation of dullness and lethargy upon waking up which is referred to as the ‘hangover effect.’ To reduce this effect pharmaceutical companies have been investigating new GABA activating medications that have short elimination half-life. Currently, non-benzodiazepines have proved to be superior to benzodiazepines in this category because of their selctive binding to subtypes of the receptors

The report Sleep Disorders Market Analysis