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NCT Number: NCT07701928

Daridorexant for People With Insomnia and Alcohol Use Disorder Study

The goal of this clinical trial is to see if a sleep medication, daridorexant (DTX), can help decrease drinking in people who have alcohol use disorder (AUD) and insomnia.

The main questions it aims to answer are:

* Can DTX decrease alcohol use in individuals with insomnia better than placebo? * Can DTX increase sleep time and other sleep related outcomes better than placebo?

Participants will:

* Take prescribed medication (DTX or Placebo based on which group they are randomized to). * Provide urine, breath, saliva, and blood samples. * Come in for bi-weekly (once every 2 weeks) in-person visits. * Answer questionnaires and surveys related to sleep, substance use, and physical/mental health. * Use an EEG headband to track brain activity at night. * Come in for 3 follow up visits one month, six months, and one year after treatment.

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Key information

Age range

18 year and older

Sex eligibility

All sexes

Study type

Interventional

Phase

Phase 2

Primary location

About this study

Double-blind placebo controlled study focusing on the ability of an already FDA approved medication for sleep disorders on AUD that will rigorously measure alcohol use, medication adherence, and sleep outcomes.

Participants will come in for a baseline appointment that consists of informed consent and baseline data collection including blood, saliva, breath, and urine samples, as well as a brief medical history to determine safety in this study.

Once approved for treatment, participants will be randomized into one of two arms, placebo + standard treatment or DTX + standard treatment. Both arms will include urine, breath, device data (from the EEG headband and medication adherence bottle cap) and self-report data. The only difference in arms will be whether the participant is taking active treatment or placebo medication. Participants can earn rewards using contingency management for adhering to medication protocols, which are objectively verified using the Medication Event Monitoring System (MEMS) cap.

Once the participant has completed all 12 weeks of treatment, they are then moved into the follow-up phase, where they will have 3 more in-person visits at 1-month, 6-month, and 1-year post treatment.

Who can participate

Healthy volunteers accepted: No

Only the study team can determine whether someone qualifies for participation.

Inclusion criteria

  • DSM-5 diagnosis of an insomnia disorder (i.e., difficulty initiating/maintaining sleep, early morning awakening equal or greater than 3 nights a week for equal or greater than 3 months, daytime impairment, and exclusion of other causes)
  • Insomnia Severity Index (ISI) score equal or greater to 15 indicating the presence of moderate or severe insomnia
  • 4 or more standard drinks on 4 or more occasions in the past 30 days
  • Seeking insomnia and AUD treatment
  • Aged 18+ years
  • DSM-5 diagnosis of AUD
  • Ability to read and speak English
  • Breath Alcohol of 0.00 for informed consent
  • Ability to provide written informed consent
  • Non-lactating women of childbearing age using a reliable form of birth control with a negative serum pregnancy test at baseline

Exclusion criteria

  • Significant risk of dangerous alcohol withdrawal, defined as a history of alcohol detoxification or seizure in the last 12 months and expression of concern by the participant about dangerous withdrawal
  • Receipt of any pharmacotherapy for sleep or AUD in the past 30 days
  • Current DSM-5 diagnosis of sever substance use disorder that is not currently being treated, other than nicotine
  • Suicide attempt in the last 2 years
  • Moderate hepatic impairment indicating an inability to receive the full dose of 50mg/day
  • History of narcolepsy or complex sleep behaviors with sedative-hypnotics
  • Any other medical (discernible by initial blood test) or psychiatric condition that our medical team determines would compromise safe participation

Treatment and study plan

Daridorexant

Drug

Daridorexant 50mg (2 25mg tablets) taken once daily at night for the 12 week treatment phase.

Placebo

Drug

Placebo medication used as comparator for active treatment (DTX). Will be distributed as 2 25mg tablets taken once daily at night similar to the active treatment medication

Brief Counseling

Behavioral

All participants, regardless of group assignment will receive an equivalent dose of brief, manualized counseling made available by NIAAA called Take Control at equivalent intervals during the treatment period. Counseling will require 15 minutes every other week (6 sessions total across the 12-week treatment plan) and will include reminders about the importance of medication adherence.

MEMS and Medication Accounting

Device

All participants will receive the Medication Event Monitoring System (MEMS) bottle cap device at their first treatment period visit and receive a brief, 10-minute introduction on how to use the device. All participants will be instructed to take prescribed medication. At each subsequent visits, research staff will use a calendar to review the study medications taken since last visit using a timeline followback (TLFB) approach, verified electronically with the MEMS device providing medication adherence reports to research staff.

Contingency Management for Medication Adherence

Behavioral

During the treatment period, each participant will receive electronic gift cards in exchange for demonstrating 85% adherence to prescribed medication over the past 14 days of remote observation. Adherence data will be available through the MEMS device portal.

Primary outcomes

  1. Self-Reported Drinks Per Day and Heavy Drinking Days

    Time frame: From enrollment to end of treatment at 12 weeks, and follow-up at 1-month, 6-months, and 1-year post treatment.

    Self-reported drinks per day using the Timeline Follow-Back (TLFB). Heavy drinking days will be determined if a participant had 4 drinks if assigned female at birth, and 5 drinks if assigned male at birth on any given day.

  2. Biochemically Verified Alcohol Use and Heavy Drinking Days

    Time frame: From enrollment to end of treatment at 12 weeks, and follow-up at 1-month, 6-months, and 1-year post treatment.

    Alcohol use will be determined by evaluating ethyl glucuronide (EtG) content in participants urine analysis sample. Heavy drinking days will be determined by an EtG-I cutoff of 100 ng/mL, which is most likely to detect heavy drinking for up to five days and any drinking during the previous two days.

Secondary outcomes

  1. Total Sleep Time

    Time frame: From enrollment through end of treatment at week 12 and follow-up at the 1-month, 6-months, and 1-year post treatment.

    Objectively verified total sleep time determined by electroencephalogram(EEG)

  2. Self-Reported Quality of Sleep and Daytime Function

    Time frame: From enrollment through end of treatment at week 12, and follow-up at the 1-month, 6-months, and 1-year post treatment.

    Participants will self-report quality of sleep and daytime function using questionnaires like the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) and the Insomnia Daytime Symptoms and Impacts Questionnaire (IDSIQ)

Other outcomes

  1. Addiction Neuroclinical Assessment-Based Moderators of Total Sleep Time

    Time frame: Enrollment through end of treatment at week 12 and follow-up at the 1-month, 6-month, and 1-year post treatment.

    Determining if there is a correlation between objectively verified total sleep time via electroencephalogram (EEG) during treatment and follow-up with severity of baseline insomnia, severity of baseline alcohol use disorder, baseline executive dysfunction, and baseline alcohol-related incentive salience via questionnaires such as the Insomnia Severity Index (ISI), Mini-International Neuropsychiatric Interview (MINI), and Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS).

  2. Addiction Neuroclinical Assessment-Based Moderators of Alcohol Use

    Time frame: From enrollment through end of treatment at week 12 and follow-up at the 1-month, 6-months, and 1-year post treatment.

    Determining if there is a correlation between self-reported and biochemically verified alcohol use via Timeline Follow-Back and ethyl glucuronide (EtG) during treatment and follow-up with severity of baseline insomnia, severity of baseline alcohol use disorder, baseline executive dysfunction, and baseline alcohol-related incentive salience via questionnaires such as the Insomnia Severity Index (ISI), Mini-International Neuropsychiatric Interview (MINI), and Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS).

Study contacts

Contact information is provided by the study sponsor or research team.

Research Coordinator

CONTACT

[email protected]

509-638-2376

Sponsors and collaborators

Lead sponsor

Sterling McPherson

Other

Collaborators

  • University of Kentucky
  • University of Mississippi Medical Center

Registry information

Official study title

Daridorexant for the Treatment of Sleep Amongst Those With Alcohol Use Disorder Using the Addiction Neuroclinical Assessment Framework

Acronym: DIAS

Important dates

Study start
2026
Primary completion
2030
Study completion
2031
First posted
Jul 14, 2026
Registry last updated
Jul 14, 2026

OpenTrials presents study information sourced from ClinicalTrials.gov. The official registry record should be consulted for the latest information.

View the official ClinicalTrials.gov record (opens in a new tab)

This listing is for discovery and informational purposes only. It is not medical advice, does not guarantee that a study is recruiting, and does not determine eligibility. Contact the study team and a qualified healthcare professional when considering participation.

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