Sodium oxybate

Common card · No. 207442

Sodium oxybate, sold under the brand name Xyrem among others, is a medication used to treat symptoms of narcolepsy: sudden muscle weakness and excessive daytime sleepiness. It is used sometimes in France and Italy as an anesthetic given intravenously. It is also approved and used in Italy and in Austria to treat alcohol dependence and alcohol withdrawal syndrome. Sodium oxybate is the sodium salt of γ-hydroxybutyric acid (GHB). The clinical trials for narcolepsy were conducted just as abuse of GHB as a club drug and date rape drug became a matter of public concern. In 2000, GHB was made a Schedule I controlled substance in the United States, while sodium oxybate, when used under an FDA New Drug Application or Investigative New Drug application, was classified as a Schedule III controlled substance for medicinal use under the Controlled Substances Act, with illicit use subject to Schedule I penalties. Sodium oxybate was approved for use by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to treat...

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