Shantha Rajaratnam of Monash University's School of Psychology, Psychiatry and Psychological Medicine in Australia said tasimelteon acts on melatonin receptors in the brain.

The research was published in The Lancet.

"Our studies show that tasimelteon is able to effectively shift the rhythm of melatonin levels in the body, which are a well-established marker of the human biological clock," Rajaratnam said Monday in a news release.

The research, conducted by a team from Monash, The Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, Harvard Medical School and Vanda Pharmaceuticals, showed tasimelteon improved a patient's ability to fall asleep and stay asleep when bedtime was shifted earlier by five hours.

"This is the equivalent of traveling eastward and putting your clock back five hours, such as returning from India to Melbourne, or Dubai to Perth," Rajartnam said.