NHS access to promising sleeping pill daridorexant is patchy, say doctors | NHS
Tens of thousands of recipes have been released for a promising and addictive new sleeping pill in the UK, but doctors say that the NHS intake is kept back with cost and irregular awareness.
Daridorexant, approved last year, has been prescribed NHS 67,000 times since November 2023 at a cost of £ 2.6 million. The drug was greeted to help people fall asleep faster, fall asleep and clearly wake up without the risk of addiction of traditional pills.
However, access is irregular. Writing a prescription is clustered in some parts of London and West Midlands, while some patients turn to special care. On the other hand, Zopiclone-was raised more than 7 million in the same period between 2023 and June 2025, a very cheaper and potentially addictive addiction. The beautiful NHS had predicted that it would spend 10.9 million pounds on Daridorexant in 2024-25 financially, but costs so far are about 1.5 million £ lower.
Doctors also pay attention to seeing him as a magical bullet solution; While many patients see healing, they do not see a large minority. As with all medicines, there are side effects.
Nice, insomnia, 995,000 adults, based on the expected population growth is suitable for treatment with Daridorexant, he said. They predicted 116,600 adults will start treatment with 2027-28 After setting for the expected population growth.
Consultant Neurologist and leading sleep expert Prof Guy Leschziner called the drug as a “an important step .. “Unlike traditional sleeping pills, this drug carries a low risk of addiction and does not cause back recoil insomnia when it stops. Worries about old sleep tablets and long -term cognitive decrease has been increased, but we do not see this risk with Daridorexant right now.”
However, he said that the nature of the prescription was cautious with design. He said: “Doctors are invited to give priority to CBT-I (cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia), so the tablets are used only if treatment fails or if they are not suitable. The problem is that access to CBT-I in NHS is irregular, many patients fall from cracks.”
Cost is another point of adhesion. Leschziner said, “Fourteen tablet zopiklon cost NHS 82P compared to £ 42 for 30 Daridorexant tablets,” Leschziner said. “It is much easier to access in particular, but in NHS, hospitals have costs when experts prescribe it – and this money needs to be found in any already stretched budgets.”
Daryidorexant works by blocking Oreksin receptors that provide alertness, so instead of forcing sedation like benzodiazepines, it only lifts the signal of “Stay awake”.
The side effects of Daryidorexant include headache, drowsiness or fatigue, dizziness and nausea. Lessly commonly, it can affect mood in sensitive patients, cause abnormal dreams, or worsen depression.
A Oxford Sleep Medicine Specialist Prof Colin Espie said that the purchase is slower than many estimates, but the prescription grew by about 12% per month.
However, he said: “Access to the second place, such as lack of access to primary treatment for insomnia, CBT-i. Daridorexant issues for insomnia, but patients deserve the most evidence-based maintenance-and in this case, it means therapy, not tablets.”
President of the British Sleep Association. Alanna Hare said that when new drugs are launched, it was a “always a delay, but that it continued to raise awareness.
He said that the cost-effectiveness was already shown in Nice’s evaluation and healed that he healed by cutting night awakening about 20 minutes and cutting sleep for 12 minutes, but more importantly, it increases people’s perception of sleep quality and daytime. ”
CBT-I stressed that approximately 80% of patients remained the most effective treatment. “Even short behavioral interventions can work, and digital platforms such as Sleepio and Sleepstation are vital in scaling CBT-I,” he said. “Daryidorexant should be seen as complementary, not for the therapy.”
Leschziner said that “the majority of patients are developing with Daridorexant”, it did not work for a “big minority”. He said: “Therefore, expectations should remain realistic because there is no great medicine.”
