The charity hopes that by picking people up early, it will help reduce rough sleeping and prevent future problems like drug and alcohol abuse.
Earlier this year, Merck (nyse: MRK - news - people ) licensed a sleeping pill from Lundbeck, a Danish drug firm.
In the past three months the FDA has slapped cautionary labels on sleeping pills and yanked Novartis' constipation drug Zelnorm after that company's analysis showed heart problems.
But the patients didn't report that they "liked" the drug, as they do for other sleeping pills.
But there are tantalizing signs as the FDA prepares to review suvorexant that this drug may be fundamentally different from current sleeping pills like Ambien, Lunesta and Sonata, lacking their rare but troubling side effects, like memory loss and sleepwalking.
FORBES: Can A Safer Ambien Make Billions? Merck Aims To Find Out
It remains the most popular psychiatric drug, topping more recently introduced medicines like the sleeping pill Ambien (No. 2) and the antidepressant Lexapro (No. 3).
Ambien, sold by French drug giant Sanofi-Synthelabo (nyse: SNY - news - people ), is currently the only one of these new sleeping pills approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
By early Monday morning, a decision from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is expected for yet a whole new type of sleeping pill.
Rozerem, generically known as ramelteon, works completely differently from other sleeping pills, and may not need any of the restrictions from the Drug Enforcement Agency that affect other sleep aids.
And when sleeping pills aren't enough to help patients stay alert, a wakefulness drug called Provigil is already approved for excessive daytime sleepiness caused by narcolepsy, sleep apnea and shift-work sleep disorder--the exhaustion brought on in some people by working the night shift.
In the past three months the FDA has slapped cautionary labels on sleeping pills and yanked Novartis (nyse: NVS - news - people )' constipation drug Zelnorm after that company's analysis showed heart problems.
The last big shift in the sleeping-pill market came 12 years ago, when Ambien hit pharmacy shelves in the U.S. The drug is viewed as having fewer side effects than older sleep aids such as Halcion, which left patients feeling groggy in the morning.
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