Journal of clinical pharmacology
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Randomized Crossover Trial to Compare Abuse Liability of Intravenous Remimazolam Versus Intravenous Midazolam and Placebo in Recreational Central Nervous System Depressant Users.
Remimazolam (RMZ) is a new and ultra-fast-acting, short-duration intravenous benzodiazepine, a drug class associated with abuse potential. This trial was designed to compare the abuse potential of remimazolam with placebo and midazolam (MDZ), a well-characterized member of the same pharmacological class in healthy, recreational drug users 18-55 years-of-age, who demonstrated good drug tolerance and were able to discriminate between midazolam and placebo. ⋯ Scores for willingness to take drug again were also lower for RMZ versus MDZ, but not significantly so. We concluded that the abuse potential of RMZ is comparable to or lower than that of MDZ, a drug known to have a low potential for intravenous abuse.