Approximately 1 in 100 patients develops DILI during hospitalisation in a department of medicine. Incidences of DILI were highest for antineoplastic agents and tuberculostatics. DILI is frequently missed and, therefore, DILI detection by diagnoses will result in misleadingly low incidence rates.

Two-night oral administration of almorexant was effective and well tolerated in treating primary insomnia in elderly patients.

Sleep disorders are common in the elderly population. Orexin receptor antagonism has been proposed as a new sleep-enabling approach to treat insomnia. The tolerability, pharmacokinetics, and pharmacodynamics of ascending single doses of almorexant, a dual orexin receptor antagonist, were investigated in healthy elderly male and female subjects. In this double-blind, placebo- and active-controlled study, each dose (100, 200, and 400 mg) was investigated in a separate group of 12 subjects (almorexant, placebo, and zolpidem 10 mg in an 8:2:2 ratio). Morning doses of almorexant were well tolerated. As expected for sleep-enabling compounds, somnolence and fatigue were frequently reported. Other adverse events included headache and nausea. Muscular weakness was reported at a higher incidence only with the highest almorexant dose. The pharmacokinetic profile of almorexant was characterized by a median time to the maximum concentration of 1.5 hours, quick disposition with a distribution half-life of 1.6 hours, and rapidly decreasing concentrations to approximately 20% of the maximum concentration over 8 hours, with a terminal half-life of 32 hours. Objective pharmacodynamic measures showed decreases in saccadic peak velocity and adaptive tracking performance and increases in body sway with the 400-mg dose of almorexant. Subjective assessments revealed a dose-dependent decrease in alertness. Almorexant had no effects on mood, calmness, subjective internal and external perception, and feeling high. These findings provide a solid basis to study the effects of almorexant in elderly patients with insomnia.

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