Invented by Dr. Leo Sternbach of Hoffman-La Roche and approved for use in 1963, Diazepam is two and a half times more potent than its predecessor, chlordiazepoxide, which it quickly surpassed in terms of sales.Diazepam was the top-selling pharmaceutical in the United States from 1969 to 1982, with peak sales in 1978 of 2.3 billion tablets.
Diazepam is also found in nature. Several plants, such as potato and wheat, contain trace amounts of naturally occurring diazepam and other benzodiazepines.
Diazepam is a core medicine in the World Health Organization’s “Essential Drugs List”, which lists the minimum medical needs for a health care system.
Diazepam was originally designed for the treatment of anxiety disorders and is also used for the treatment of agitation, tremors, delirium, seizures, and hallucinations resulting from alchohol withdrawl. It is used for the treatment of seizures and relief of muscle spasms in some neurological diseases including stiff-person syndrome.