Australian researchers are hoping to build on promising results for modafinil in debilitating fatigue after stroke with a larger phase III trial.
The MIDAS trial, published last year in Stroke, found that modafinil effectively alleviated fatigue and improve quality of life in patients who had experienced a stroke.
And according to study author Dr Tom Lillicrap of the NHMRC Centre of Research Excellence (CRE) in Stroke Rehabilitation and Brain Recovery at the University of Newcastle, NSW, a larger trial, MIDAS 2, is now recruiting patients.
In the initial MIDAS study the “wakefulness-promoting agent” modafinil, which is primarily used to treat the sleeping disorder narcolepsy, was assessed in a six-week randomised controlled trial in 36 stroke survivors.
It found that participants receiving modafinil reported a significant decrease in fatigue (multidimensional fatigue inventory, −7.38) and improved quality of life (SSQoL, 11.81) compared with placebo.
“Even more gratifying than the statistical results were the individual stories from patients who took part in the trial,” says Dr Lillicrap.