Alprazolam: History

“[The public often] underestimate the extent to which certain disorders affect the general populace. When you treat them, it can make a tremendous amount of difference in their lives.” (David Sheehan, first discovered alprazolam’s efficacy in treating panic disorder.[3])

Alprazolam was first synthesized by Upjohn (now a part of Pfizer). Its patent (#3,987,052)[4] was filed on October 29, 1969, granted on October 19, 1976 and expired in September 1993. It was released in 1981.[5][6] The first indication for which alprazolam was approved 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. However, from his clinical experience, Sheehan knew panic disorder to be both widespread among the populace and well responding to benzodiazepines. He suggested to Upjohn that marketing alprazolam for panic disorder will both cover new diagnostic territory and stress the unique potency of this drug. Sheehan describes that the first group of patients treated by alprazolam was so impressed by its action that they knew outright—this drug was going to be a hit. A few of the patients pooled their money and bought the Upjohn’s stock. Several months later, when alprazolam was approved by the FDA, they sold out and made a profit.

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