Hypnotic, or soporific drugs, commonly known as sleeping pills, are a class of psychoactive drugs whose primary function is to induce sleep and to treat insomnia (sleeplessness).
Cold medicines are a group of medications taken individually or in combination as a treatment for the symptoms of the common cold and similar conditions of the upper respiratory tract. The term encompasses a broad array of drugs, including analgesics, antihistamines and decongestants, among many others. It also includes drugs which are marketed as cough suppressants or antitussives, but their effectiveness in reducing cough symptoms is unclear or minimal.
Benadryl is a brand of various antihistamine medications used to stop allergies, whose content varies in different countries, but which includes some combination of diphenhydramine, acrivastine, and/or cetirizine.
Fexofenadine, sold under the brand name Allegra among others, is an antihistamine pharmaceutical drug used in the treatment of allergy symptoms, such as hay fever and urticaria.
Flurazepam is a drug which is a benzodiazepine derivative. It possesses anxiolytic, anticonvulsant, hypnotic, sedative and skeletal muscle relaxant properties. It produces a metabolite with a long half-life, which may stay in the bloodstream for days. Flurazepam was patented in 1968 and came into medical use the same year. Flurazepam, developed by Roche Pharmaceuticals, was one of the first benzodiazepine hypnotic medications to be marketed.
Eszopiclone, sold under the brand name Lunesta among others, is a medication used in the treatment of insomnia. Evidence supports slight to moderate benefit up to six months. It is taken by mouth.
Nonbenzodiazepines, sometimes referred to colloquially as Z-drugs, are a class of psychoactive drugs that are benzodiazepine-like in uses, such as for treating insomnia and anxiety.
Phenyltoloxamine is an antihistamine with sedative and analgesic effects. It is available in combination with other drugs such as paracetamol (acetominophen).
Dextromethorphan (DXM) is a cough suppressant used in many cough and cold medicines. It affects serotonin, norepinephrine, NMDA, and sigma-1 receptors in the brain, all of which have been implicated in the pathophysiology of depression. In 2022, the FDA approved a formulation of it combined with bupropion named Auvelity to serve as a rapid acting antidepressant in patients with major depressive disorder.
Clomethiazole is a sedative and hypnotic originally developed by Hoffmann-La Roche in the 1930s. The drug is used in treating and preventing symptoms of acute alcohol withdrawal.
Nimetazepam is an intermediate-acting hypnotic drug which is a benzodiazepine derivative. It was first synthesized by a team at Hoffmann-La Roche in 1964. It possesses powerful hypnotic, anxiolytic, sedative, and skeletal muscle relaxant properties. Nimetazepam is also a particularly potent anticonvulsant. It is marketed in 5 mg tablets known as Erimin, which is the brand name manufactured and marketed by the large Japanese corporation Sumitomo. Japan is the sole manufacturer of nimetazepam in the world. Outside of Japan, Erimin is available in much of East and Southeast Asia and was widely prescribed for the short-term treatment of severe insomnia in patients who have difficulty falling asleep or maintaining sleep. Sumitomo has ceased manufacturing Erimin since November 2015. It is still available as a generic drug or as Lavol.
Ketazolam is a drug which is a benzodiazepine derivative. It possesses anxiolytic, anticonvulsant, sedative and skeletal muscle relaxant properties.
Pholcodine is an opioid cough suppressant (antitussive). It helps suppress unproductive coughs and also has a mild sedative effect, but has little or no analgesic effects. It is also known as morpholinylethylmorphine and homocodeine.
Methyprylon, or Noludar, is a sedative of the piperidinedione derivative family first developed by Hoffmann-La Roche. This medicine was used for treating insomnia, but is now rarely used as it has been replaced by newer drugs with fewer side effects, such as benzodiazepines.
Dexmedetomidine, sold under the trade name Precedex among others, is a drug used in humans for sedation. Veterinarians use dexmedetomidine for similar purposes in treating cats, dogs, and horses. It is also used in humans to treat acute agitation associated with schizophrenia or bipolar I or II disorder.
Pentoxyverine (rINN) or carbetapentane is an antitussive commonly used for cough associated with illnesses like common cold. It is sold over-the-counter as Solotuss, or in combination with other medications, especially decongestants. One such product is Certuss, a combination of guaifenesin and pentoxyverine. The drug has been available in the form of drops, suspensions and suppositories.
Clofedanol (INN) or chlophedianol (BAN), sold under the brand name Ninjacof among others, is a centrally acting cough suppressant used in the treatment of dry cough. Clofedanol has local anesthetic, antispasmodic, and antihistamine properties, and may have anticholinergic effects at high doses.
Pipazetate (INNTooltip International Nonproprietary Name) (brand names Dipect, Lenopect, Selvigon, Theratuss, Toraxan), or pipazethate (USANTooltip United States Adopted Name), is a 1-azaphenothiazine drug that was briefly marketed as a cough suppressant. It binds to the sigma-1 receptor with an IC50 value of 190 nM. It also has local anesthetic action, and in large doses can produce seizures.
Pyrithyldione is a psychoactive drug invented in 1949. An improved method of manufacture was patented by Roche in 1959. It was used as a hypnotic or sedative and presumed to be less toxic than barbiturates. Today, this substance is no longer used. Agranulocytosis was sometimes reported as adverse effect. Pyrithyldione is also a CYP2D6 inducer but is not as potent as glutethimide In studies, it increased the O-Demethylation of codeine by 20%.
Fluperlapine, also known as fluoroperlapine, is a morphanthridine (11H-dibenzo[b,e]azepine) atypical antipsychotic with additional antidepressant and sedative effects. It was first synthesized in 1979, and then subsequently studied in animals and humans in 1984 and beyond, but despite demonstrating efficacy in the treatment of a variety of medical conditions including schizophrenia, psychosis associated with Parkinson's disease, depressive symptoms, and dystonia, it was never marketed. This was perhaps due to its capacity for producing potentially life-threatening agranulocytosis, similarly to clozapine, which it closely resembles both structurally and pharmacologically.
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