Benzodiazepine

Benzodiazepine (pronounced ben-zoh-dahy-az-uh-peen)

A family of chemical compounds used as minor tranquilizers that act against anxiety and convulsions and produce sedation and muscle relaxation; marketed, with variations, under a number of brand-names and trademarks such as Diazepam (Valium) and chlordiazepoxide (Librium).

1934: Word is a chemical construct, from benzo (word-forming element used in chemistry to indicate presence of a benzene ring fused with another ring) + di (from the Ancient Greek δίς (dís) (twice) + az (nitrogen-substituted) + epine (from the French hepta (seven-membered).

Benzodiazepines are a class of therapeutic agents capable of producing a calming, sedative effect and used in the treatment of fear, anxiety, tension, agitation, and related states of mental disturbance.  Among the most widely prescribed drugs in the world, the first benzodiazepine was chlordiazepoxide (Librium), followed by a large variety of agents, including diazepam (Valium) and alprazolam (Xanax), each with slightly different properties.  Benzodiazepines work by enhancing the action of the neurotransmitter gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), which inhibits anxiety by reducing certain nerve-impulse transmissions within the brain.

Before the development of the benzodiazepines, the only available anti-anxiety drugs were the barbiturates and meprobamate and, relative to these, the benzodiazepines had fewer unfavorable side effects and a reduced potential for abuse.  The thus quickly became the preferred treatment for anxiety, used also to treat insomnia, general stress, calming muscle spasms and preparing patient for anesthesia or dental surgery.  Side effects include sleepiness, drowsiness, reduced alertness, and unsteadiness of gait but benzodiazepines are not lethal even in very large overdoses, having the tendency only to increase the sedative effects of alcohol and other drugs.  Dependence may however occur, even in moderate dosages, with withdrawal symptoms observed even after short-term use and for long-term users, almost half may suffer withdrawal symptoms which can take months to subside.  As a consequence, some long-term users continue to take the drug not because of persistent anxiety but because the withdrawal symptoms are too unpleasant.

Valium was introduced by the Swiss Roche Labs in 1963.  It was the first billion-dollar medicine and ushered in the era of brand-name drugs, the model of later marketing campaigns for products such as Prozac and Viagra.  In its halcyon years between 1969 and 1982, more prescriptions were written for Valium than any other drug.  The name Valium (which in US trademark law was Hoffmann-La Roche’s proprietary name for diazepam, first registered in 1961) was a creation of the corporation, not, as is often claimed, from a Latin word or formation meaning "to be strong and well".  Valium was no different from Telstra and Optus, creations by consultants needing a word both unique and different enough from others to withstand legal challenge while being something which hints, however vaguely, at what’s being sold.  In Latin, there was validum (strong; powerful; efficacious), vallum (a fortification) and the plant valerian (a herbal sedative), all of which were probably in the corporate mind.  Some with medical connections such as vulnerary (used for or useful in healing wounds), valetudinarian (a person of a weak or sickly constitution) and valetudo (one's state of health (good or bad)) might have been a bit remote so the closest inspiration was likely valere (a Latin verb meaning “to be strong”; “to be well”).  Best of all the sardonic industry jokes was a connection with the Latin vale (goodbye; farewell) although Valium wasn’t much use in suicide attempts, fatal overdoses, while not impossible, were rare.