Eugeroic

Eugeroics are a class of stimulants that produce long-lasting mental arousal.

The term eugeroic itself means "Good Arousal".

There are currently only three marketed drugs in this class Armodafinil, Modafinil and its earlier analogue Adrafinil. Another drug under production, code-named CX717, is being produced by the pharmacutical company Cortex.

As of October 21 2007, there are no references to "eugeroic" or "eugeroics" on PubMed, indicating that the term is not used in medical literature.

Function
These stimulants tend to increase alertness, but may not have the peripheral (body) effects or addiction/tolerance/abuse potential of the traditional stimulants. They have minimal effect on sleep structure and do not cause rebound hypersomnolence or "come down" effects.

The US Air Force has spearheaded research in this field for their pilots on long missions.

It has been recommended for use as a treatment for narcolepsy and to augment antidepressants.

Relationship to other medications
A related group of drugs called Ampakines is a class of drugs that modulates neurotransmitters in the brain. One of the major neurotransmitters is glutamate, and a reduced level of glutamate-mediated excitatory stimulation may be implicated in Alzheimer’s disease, schizophrenia, and a number of other diseases and disorders. They share many similar traits, although these seem to be more targeted towards specific conditions, such as memory enhancement.

When comparing Provigil (Modafinil) to drugs like Ritalin, the effect is longer lasting. Typically when used for the treatment of narcolepsy, Ritalin can take up to 20 minutes for the effects to begin to work, last for 2.5 - 3 hours and then drop off quite quickly.