Remimazolam for procedural sedation


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Indications: Procedural sedation
Therapeutic Areas: Neurology
Year: 2020

Remimazolam has completed its main clinical development studies for procedural sedation in adults. Procedural sedation is a technique of administering sedatives or dissociative agents, with or without analgesics, to induce a mental state that allows the patient to tolerate unpleasant diagnostic and therapeutic procedures such as colonoscopy while maintaining cardiorespiratory function. This enables medical procedures to be carried out with the patient benefit of markedly reduced discomfort and no major added risk.
Remimazolam is an ultra-short-acting intravenous benzodiazepine sedative/anaesthetic that in the human body is rapidly transformed (metabolized) to an inactive metabolite. Remimazolam is structurally similar to the commonly used sleep-inducing drug midazolam, but it incorporates the pharmacokinetic properties of remifentanil to make the offset of sedation faster and more predictable. If licensed, remimazolam will offer an additional therapy option for procedural sedation in adults during a diagnostic and/or therapeutic procedures.