Modafinil fights 'chemo brain'

A recent study by Cephalon, manufacturers of modafinil, and the National Cancer Institute, indicates that modafinil may be useful for fighting "chemo brain," a kind of mental fog that chemotherapy patients often experience. Symptoms include memory impairment and mental "sluggishness" which can cause trouble in many situations. Modafinil, described in this Washington Post article as a "genius pill," was shown to help clear up these symptoms:

The new study... involved 68 women who had completed treatment for breast cancer. The women ranged in age from 33 to 83, with a median age of 54 years.

All participants took 200 milligrams of modafinil for the first four weeks of the trial. During the second four weeks, women who had had a positive response to the drug were randomly selected to continue taking modafinil or a placebo.

The women who took modafinil for the entire eight weeks reported significant improvements in certain measures of memory, concentration and learning.

The only other drug that anyone has tried for this syndrome is Ritalin, but Ritalin has additional side effects that modafinil doesn't, and unlike modafinil, Ritalin is addictive.

What caught my eye is this quote:

"This is a small study. It's really the first of its kind, but I think what's important about it is that they did show improvement in some parameters," added Dr. Christine Pellegrino, director of the Breast Clinic at the Montefiore-Einstein Cancer Center in New York City. "This really is opening a door to a potential promise for a lot of patients, not just breast cancer patients, who feel the haziness of chemo brain."

And here I was thinking, not just "patients," but pretty much anyone who thinks they could benefit from improvements in memory, concentration and learning. If modafinil is truly not addictive, and truly offers no particularly negative side effects beyond finding it difficult to sleep, why should we as a culture limit use of a "genius pill" just to sick people?