The ads for Lunesta are being criticized
“One print ad says Lunesta is ‘the first and only prescription sleep aid approved for long-term use.’ Similar phrases appear on Sepracor’s website for the drug, lunesta.com, and in television ads. They depict restless people being lulled to sleep by what appears to be a luna moth, which is active at night.

But while Lunesta’s label says the drug is intended to treat insomnia, it does not mention how long the pills can safely be taken. The FDA did not require the label to specify that the drug is for ”short-term” use, as it has for other prescription sleep aids on the market . . .

. . . Gregg Jacobs, a Harvard Medical School assistant professor of psychiatry, said some of the ad claims aren’t backed by a study that helped Sepracor receive FDA approval for the drug this year. The study, in the medical journal Sleep, showed that patients using Lunesta fell asleep about 20 minutes faster than those taking a placebo, but they still took about 45 minutes to dose off, according to the study’s mean average. Insomnia is often defined as failure to fall asleep within 30 minutes.

Jacobs also disputes a TV ad claim that ‘Lunesta helps most people sleep all through the night.’ As those words are spoken, screen text reads, ‘A full night = 8 hours.’ The Lunesta website says a study showed ‘most people who took Lunesta slept an average of 7-8 hours.’ But the Sleep study reported a median sleep time of only about 6 hours, 20 minutes.

‘Patients who took this drug did not become normal sleepers,’ Jacobs said.”