Quazepam (Doral - Baker Cummins, Wallace) is a trifluoroethyl benzodiazepine made by Schering and approved in 1985 by the US Food and Drug Administration for treatment of insomnia. Like other benzodiazepines, it is a Schedule IV controlled substance.Quazepam (Doral - Baker Cummins, Wallace) is a trifluoroethyl benzodiazepine made by Schering and approved in 1985 by the US Food and Drug Administration for treatment of insomnia. Like other benzodiazepines, it is a Schedule IV controlled substance.

Estazolam (ProSom - Abbott), a triazolobenzodiazepine derivative similar in structure to alprazolam (Xanax) and triazolam (Halcion), was recently marketed in the USA for treatment of insomnia.

Zaleplon, a pyrazolopyrimidine hypnotic, was recently approved by the FDA for short-term treatment of insomia. Zaleplon, like zolpidem, is a non-benzodiazepine that binds to benzodiazepine receptors.

The FDA now requires boxed warnings in the package inserts of benzodiazepines describing the potential for these drugs to be abused and misused and to cause addiction and physical dependence. Benzodiazepine labels have contained a boxed warning about a risk of serious drug interactions with opioids since 2016.

Zolpidem (Ambien - Sanofi-Aventis), a nonbenzodiazepine benzodiazepine receptor agonist, is the most frequently prescribed hypnotic in the US. As its patent approaches expiration, its manufacturer has received FDA approval to market an extended-release formulation of the drug, Ambien CR. The pharmacological rationale for doing so is that short-acting hypnotics like zolpidem are more effective at inducing sleep than they are at maintaining it.

The FDA has approved suvorexant (Belsomra – Merck), the first orexin receptor antagonist to become available in the US, for treatment of sleep-onset and/or sleep-maintenance insomnia.

Eszopiclone (Lunesta - Sepracor), a benzodiazepine-like drug, has been approved by the FDA for oral treatment of insomnia. It is the S-isomer of zopiclone (Imovane, and others in Canada), which has been available in other countries for almost 20 years. Unlike similar drugs such as zolpidem (Ambien) or zaleplon (Sonata), Lunesta is not being restricted in its labeling to short-term use. Like other hypnotics, eszopiclone is a schedule IV drug.

View the Expanded Table: Some Oral Drugs for Chronic Insomnia

The FDA has approved lemborexant (Dayvigo – Eisai), an orexin receptor antagonist, for treatment of sleep-onset and/or sleep-maintenance insomnia in adults. It is the second orexin receptor antagonist to be approved for this indication; suvorexant (Belsomra) was the first.

The FDA has approved daridorexant (Quviviq – Idorsia), an orexin receptor antagonist, for treatment of sleep-onset and/or sleep-maintenance insomnia in adults. Daridorexant is the third orexin receptor antagonist to be approved for this indication; suvorexant (Belsomra) and lemborexant (Dayvigo) were approved earlier.