China has become the first country to approve Takeda's first-in-class orexin agonist, oveporexton, for the sleep disorder narcolepsy. NT1 is a form of narcolepsy in which the sleep symptoms are accompanied by a sudden, brief loss of voluntary muscle control known as cataplexy. Orzeyful – a selective orexin receptor 2 (OX2R) agonist – is designed to tackle a deficiency in orexin-producing neurons and compromised orexin signalling in the sleep disorder. China is the biggest marketChina is the largest market for the new drug, with an estimated 700,000 people there living with NT1, according to Takeda. "As the first and only approved medicine to treat the broad spectrum of narcolepsy type 1, oveporexton has the potential to fundamentally change how the disease is managed," said Yan Liu, general manager of Takeda China.