Alpidem

Alpidem, sold under the brand name Ananxyl, is a nonbenzodiazepine anxiolytic medication which was briefly used to treat anxiety disorders but is no longer marketed.^[3] It was previously marketed in France, but was discontinued due to liver toxicity.^[3] Alpidem is taken by mouth.^[1]

Side effects of alpidem include sedation, fatigue, dizziness, and headache, among others.^[3][2][4] It has much less to no impact on cognition, memory, and psychomotor function relative to benzodiazepines.^[3][5] Similarly, no rebound anxiety or withdrawal symptoms have been observed with alpidem.^[3][2] Rarely, alpidem can cause serious liver toxicity, including liver failure and death.^[3] Alpidem is a nonbenzodiazepine of the imidazopyridine family, structurally related to the Z-drug zolpidem,^[1] and acts as a GABA_A receptor positive allosteric modulator of the benzodiazepine site of the receptor complex.^[3] In contrast to zolpidem however, alpidem has anxiolytic effects rather than sedative or hypnotic effects at normal therapeutic doses.^[3]

Alpidem was first described by 1982^[6][7] and was introduced for medical use in France in 1991.^[3][8][9] It was also under development for use in other countries in the 1990s, but development was discontinued and the drug was never marketed in any other country.^[8][9] Alpidem was withdrawn from the market in France in 1993 due to liver toxicity.^{[10][11][12][13][3]}