Shift work disorder awareness campaign (Cephalon)

Also: Wake Up Squad · Get Your Shift Together

Disease-awareness campaign by drugmaker Cephalon, maker of the wakefulness drugs Provigil and Nuvigil, telling night and rotating shift workers that sleepiness at work could be a medical condition called shift work disorder. It used radio ads, websites with a self-assessment quiz, doctors' offices and employer outreach; critics said it turned a workplace hazard into a reason for a prescription.

Years: 2010–now
Country: United States
Topic: Sleep
Asks people to: Recognize Seek help
Strategy: Self screening
Channel: Clinical setting Radio Website
Audience: Adults
Night, rotating and early-morning shift workers; employers

Evidence

NoneUnknown

Sponsor (who paid)

Cephalon (later Teva Pharmaceutical Industries) Industry

Credits (who made it)

Dorland Global Public Relations PR

Sources

Shift work: marketing medication for symptoms instead of addressing the hazard (The Pump Handle, 22 Sep 2014) reference · 2014
Do you have shift work sleep disorder? (CounterPunch, 10 May 2010) news · 2010
Do sleepy shift workers need Cephalon's pick-me-up pill? (Bloomberg, 11 Aug 2011) news · 2011

Research notes

Created 2026-10-24 by an AI research pass for #103 (G2); not reviewed by a person. Only the Pump Handle article was opened; CounterPunch, Bloomberg and PR Watch details (radio ads in Chicago, wakeupsquad.com, Dorland PR, employer outreach) come from search snippets. Sites (wakeupsquad.com, getyourshifttogethernow.com) not checked and likely gone; end year unknown. To verify: 2010 start; '1 in 4' of about 15 million US shift workers claim (not used on card).

Record cases/cephalon-shift-work-disorder-awareness.json, updated 2026-10-24· Link to this campaign