By Paul Reynolds, Vice-President, Narcolepsy Network

As usual this year, Narcolepsy Network participated in SLEEP, the annual U.S. conference of sleep professionals – which is a kind of summit meeting for the sleep community. Held in mid-June, the 2026 event drew more than 5,000 people and more than 100 exhibitors to Baltimore’s Convention Center.

Over the course of three days at the event, Narcolepsy Network talked to scores of sleep doctors, nurses, researchers and technicians and held constructive meetings with our pharmaceutical partners and fellow patient advocacy organizations.

Along the way, our contingent – comprising Liz Burgess, the new Executive Director of Narcolepsy Network, our president Keith Harper and myself, the organization’s vice-president –  also gleaned useful news and insights for people who have narcolepsy and idiopathic hypersomnia and those who support them.

Here’s the second of our three top takeaways from the event. (We also posted about challenges in getting timely care for sleep disorders.)

New Treatments Continue to Evolve, for a Broad Range of Patients

The biggest news in the medical treatment of narcolepsy continues to be the evolution of what are known as orexin agonists, a new class of pharmaceuticals now in development.

The effectiveness of these medications is rooted in an underlying cause of narcolepsy: a deficiency of a chemical messenger known as orexin, which controls the body’s waking and sleeping. The new drugs don’t restore orexin to the brain, but they do mimic it within the brain’s orexin receptors. Trials of orexin agonists suggest that this chemical action can serve to increase wakefulness.

As we roamed the SLEEP exhibit halls and spoke with pharmaceutical companies, we were encouraged by the number of agonists now in trials and the progress of this research – which may result in the first agonist becoming available in the U.S. later this year, pending regulatory approval with others to follow in 2027 and 2028.

Especially encouraging were the trials of agonists involving people with narcolepsy type 2 and idiopathic hypersomnia. Why are those so notable? Because these conditions are less associated than narcolepsy type 1 with a deficit of orexin.

Yet despite these patients having intact orexin levels, there’s evidence that agonists may help people with these conditions. Experts we spoke with at SLEEP could not yet fully explain why such action occurs among patients whose orexin levels may be normal. But the development, if proven by continuing trials, suggests this new class of drugs may benefit an even broader swath of those with sleep disorders than was once assumed.

Follow our ongoing research findings on medications for narcolepsy and IH, which we will be adding to soon.