Almorexant

Almorexant(ACT078573) is a potent and competitive dual orexin 1 receptor (OX1)/orexin 2 receptor (OX2) antagonist with Ki values of 1.3 and 0.17 nM for OX1 and OX2, respectively.IC50 value: 1.3/0.7 nM(OX1/OX2 receptor) [1] [2]Target: Dual OX!/OX2 receptorin vitro: [(3)H]Almorexant bound to a single saturable site on hOX(1) and hOX(2) with high affinity (K(d) of 1.3 and 0.17 nM, respectively. In Schild analyses using the [(3)H]inositol phosphates assay, almorexant acted as a competitive antagonist at hOX(1) and as a noncompetitive-like antagonist at hOX(2). In binding kinetic analyses, [(3)H]almorexant had fast association and dissociation rates at hOX(1), whereas it had a fast association rate and a remarkably slow dissociation rate at hOX(2) [1]. in vivo: During the 12-h dark period after dosing, ALM(Almorexant) exacerbated cataplexy in TG mice and increased nonrapid eye movement sleep with heightened sleep/wake fragmentation in both genotypes. ALM showed greater hypnotic potency in WT mice than in TG mice. The 100 mg/kg dose conferred maximal promotion of cataplexy in TG mice and maximal promotion of REM sleep in WT mice. In TG mice, ALM (30 mg/ kg) paradoxically induced a transient increase in active wakefulness [3]. Almorexant 200 mg showed significantly less 'Drug Liking' than both zolpidem doses (p < 0.01), and almorexant 400 mg had smaller effects than zolpidem 20 mg (p < 0.05), while almorexant 1,000 mg was not different from either zolpidem dose [4].