Ambien Linked to Sleep Driving, Other Sleep Disorders
Last Updated on May 1, 2020
Investigation Complete
Attorneys working with ClassAction.org have finished their investigation into this matter. Check back for any potential updates. You can also sign up for our free newsletter for the latest in class action news and settlements.
If you still have questions about your rights, contact an attorney in your area as there is a time limit for filing all lawsuits. The information on this page was posted when the investigation began and is now for reference only.
Free Consumer Tools:
- Open and Current Class Action Lawsuit Settlements and Rebates
- Open and Current Class Action Lawsuit List, Investigations
- Class Action Lawsuit and Settlement News
- Free Class Action Lawsuit Database
At A Glance
- This Alert Affects
- Patients prescribed Ambien or other types of sedative-hypnotic drugs.
- Damages
- Complex sleep disorders, including sleep driving, binge eating, sleep sex, and other sleep activities.
- Company(ies)
- Sanofi Aventis
- Additional Details
- Other affected drugs include Butisol Sodium, Carbrital, Dalmane, Doral, Halcion, Lunesta, Placidyl, Prosom, Restoril, Rozerem, Seconal, and Sonata.
- Date
- More accurate labels required since 2007.
Ambien is a sedative-hypnotic drug used to treat insomnia, manufactured by Sanofi Aventis. It was approved for use in 1999. In 2007 the Food and Drug Administration demanded more accurate labeling be applied following worrying cases of, among other things, sleep-driving in patients using the drug.
Ambien Sleep Driving
Following numerous reports of patients who had taken Ambien and experienced side effects into the following day, the FDA required the drug’s label identify several risks, including allergic reactions and a range of complex sleep behaviors. These sleep behaviors include sleep driving. Sleep driving, the process of driving while not truly awake under the influence of a sedative-hypnotic drug, is characterized by total lack of recall for the patient. Other reported cases include patients binge eating with no later memory, sleepwalking, sleep sex, amnesia, and daytime sleepiness and residual feelings of being drugged.
Ambien Side Effects
The FDA also asked Sanofi Aventis to contact doctors and health care providers and provide notice of the new warnings. Individuals with a history of sleepwalking may experience stronger side effects, and it’s possible that women are also more likely to engage in sleep-activity such as sleep related eating disorders.
Ambien’s generic name is zolpidem tartrate, and similar sedative-hypnotic drugs also targeted by the FDA include Butisol Sodium, Carbrital, Dalmane, Doral, Halcion, Lunesta, Placidyl, Prosom, Restoril, Rozerem, Seconal, and Sonata.
Before commenting, please review our comment policy.