What is "lirequinil"

n. A non-benzodiazepine hypnotic drug.

Lirequinil (Ro41-3696) is a nonbenzodiazepine hypnotic drug which binds to benzodiazepine sites on the GABA receptor. In human clinical trials, lirequinil was found to have similar efficacy to zolpidem, with less side effects such as clumsiness and memory impairment. However it was also much slower acting than zolpidem, with peak plasma concentrations not reached until 2.5 hours after oral administration, and its O-desethyl metabolite Ro41-3290 is also active with a half-life of 8 hours. This meant that while effective as a hypnotic, lirequinil failed to prove superior to zolpidem due to producing more next-day sedation, and it has not been adopted for clinical use. It was developed by a team at Hoffmann-La Roche in the 1990s.