Alprazolam

Alprazolam, also known under the trade names Xanax, Xanor and Niravam, is a short-acting drug of the benzodiazepine class used to treat moderate to severe anxiety disorders, panic attacks, and as an adjunctive treatment for anxiety associated with moderate depression. It is also available in an extended release form, Xanax XR. Both forms are now available generically. Alprazolam possesses anxiolytic, sedative, hypnotic, amnesic, anticonvulsant and muscle relaxant properties.[3]
Alprazolam is a potentially addictive drug and long term use of alprazolam may cause a physical dependence to develop and benzodiazepine withdrawal syndrome to appear during discontinuation. In the USA, alprazolam is the most commonly misused benzodiazepine and is a schedule IV controlled drug.[4]

Alprazolam was first synthesized by Upjohn (now a part of Pfizer). It is covered under U.S. Patent 3,987,052 , which was filed on October 29, 1969, granted on October 19, 1976 and expired in September 1993. Alprazolam was released in 1981.[5][6] The first approved indication was panic disorder. Upjohn took this direction at the behest of a young psychiatrist David Sheehan. Sheehan's suggestion was to use the confusion DSM-III created in the classification of anxiety disorders (a distinction had just been made in DSM-III between generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) and panic disorder). Panic disorder was, at that point, perceived to be rare and treatable only with tricyclic antidepressants; benzodiazepines were thought to be ineffective