The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has recently required the makers of sleeping pills (such as Ambien) to lower the dosage of their drugs because of a possibility of a risk of injury to patients due to morning drowsiness.
Recent research has shown that the drug remains in the bloodstream at high levels that can interfere with coordination and alertness, which can cause car accidents.
Products with regular doses will be lowered from 10 milligrams to 5 milligrams. Extended-release doses will be lowered from 12.5 milligrams to 6.25 milligrams.
Insomnia treatments containing the drug zolpidem are affected, which includes Ambien, Edluar, Zolpimist, and their generic forms.
Sleeping medicines like Lunesta and Sonata are not affected because they use different drugs.
In the future, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration wants to require the makers of sleeping pills to conduct driving simulation studies.
Source: www.fda.gov
