Remimazolam is in clinical development as an anaesthetic for induction and maintenance of general anaesthesia in adults. General anaesthesia is a technique of administering anaesthetic drugs into a vein (intravenous) or breathing anaesthetic gases into the lungs to put the patient into a reversible state of unconsciousness so that the patient is unaware of surgery and do not move or feel pain while it’s carried out. This enables the physician to perform surgery which would be extremely painful if the patient was awake and able to feel. Some serious complications associated with general anaesthesia include anaphylaxis, waking up during operation and, rarely death.
Remimazolam is an intravenous anaesthetic which is similar to the commonly used sleep-inducing drug midazolam, but it incorporates properties to make the offset of sedation faster and more predictable. If licensed, remimazolam will offer an additional first-line intravenous general anaesthetic treatment for induction and maintenance of general anaesthesia in adults.