reason | Good news, overachieving students, ADHD-havers, Limitless
fans, and pillheads everywhere: A meta-analysis of the data on "smart
drug" modafinil has found that yes, it's safe, and yes, it's effective
as a cognitve enhancer.
Published in the journal European Neuropsychopharmacology,
the review covers 24 placebo-controlled studies of modafinil—also known
by the brand name Provigil—that were conducted between 1990 and 2014 on
healthy, non-sleep deprived individuals. "Such an analysis overcomes
some of the limitations of each of the smaller studies, such as narrow
demographics or conflicting results, and draws an overarching
conclusion," notes Quartz writer Akshat Rathi.
Officially sanctioned in the U.S. to treat sleep disorders such as
narcolepsy, modafinil is sometimes prescribed off-label to treat
conditions like depression, chronic fatigue syndrome, and Parkinson's
disease. It's also become popular as a cognitive enhancer, or nootropic. A 2008 poll from science journal Nature found that 44 percent
of its readers had tried modafinil. And while less popular than
Adderall, it's also a hit among college students as a study aid.
Without a prescription, modafinal is still pretty easy for Americans
to purchase online from foreign pharmacies (where it's sold under names
such as Modalert, Modvigil, and Alertec), albeit also pretty
illegal. Some countries, such as India and Mexico, neither classify
modafinil as a controlled substance nor require buyers to have a medical
prescription; in others, such as Canada, Australia, Germany, and the
U.K., it's not a controlled substance but a prescription is required. In
the U.S., however, it's both a Schedule IV controlled drug and
prescription-only.
Could that change? In the new review, researchers found that
"modafinil appears to consistently engender enhancement of attention,
executive functions, and learning," all without "any preponderances for
side effects or mood changes." Modafinil "appears safe for widespread
use," concluded researchers, calling it "one of the most promising and
highly-investigated neuroenhancers to date."
