Detection of phenazepam in illicitly manufactured Erimin 5 tablets

Lim, Wendy J.L.; Yap, Angeline T.W.; Mangudi, Merula; Koh, Hui Boon; Tang, Angeline S.Y.; Chan, Kar‐Weng

doi:10.1002/dta.1981

Cited by 7 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 12 publications

(21 reference statements)

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Phenazepam, also known as "Bonsai", "Zannie" or "Supersleep", is a long-acting benzodiazepine developed in the 1970s and currently used as an anxiolytic, hypnotic and for the treatment of Alcohol Withdrawal Syndrome in the former USSR [134]. Phenazepam was reported to EMCDDA in July 2011 by Germany and UK.…”

Section: Phenazepam and 3-hydroxyphenazepammentioning

confidence: 99%

Designer Benzodiazepines: A Review of Toxicology and Public Health Risks

et al. 2021

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The rising use of designer benzodiazepines (DBZD) is a cat-and-mouse game between organized crime and law enforcement. Non-prohibited benzodiazepines are introduced onto the global drug market and scheduled as rapidly as possible by international authorities. In response, DBZD are continuously modified to avoid legal sanctions and drug seizures and generally to increase the abuse potential of the DBZD. This results in an unpredictable fluctuation between the appearance and disappearance of DBZD in the illicit market. Thirty-one DBZD were considered for review after consulting the international early warning database, but only 3-hydroxyphenazepam, adinazolam, clonazolam, etizolam, deschloroetizolam, diclazepam, flualprazolam, flubromazepam, flubromazolam, meclonazepam, phenazepam and pyrazolam had sufficient data to contribute to this scoping review. A total of 49 reports describing 1 drug offense, 2 self-administration studies, 3 outpatient department admissions, 44 emergency department (ED) admissions, 63 driving under the influence of drugs (DUID) and 141 deaths reported between 2008 and 2021 are included in this study. Etizolam, flualprazolam flubromazolam and phenazepam were implicated in the majority of adverse-events, drug offenses and deaths. However, due to a general lack of knowledge of DBZD pharmacokinetics and toxicity, and due to a lack of validated analytical methods, total cases are much likely higher. Between 2019 and April 2020, DBZD were identified in 48% and 83% of postmortem and DUID cases reported to the UNODC, respectively, with flualprazolam, flubromazolam and etizolam as the most frequently detected substances. DBZD toxicology, public health risks and adverse events are reported.

show abstract

Section: Phenazepam and 3-hydroxyphenazepammentioning

confidence: 99%

Designer Benzodiazepines: A Review of Toxicology and Public Health Risks

et al. 2021

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Etizolam tablets have been found to contain alprazolam, flubromazepam (an NPS‐benzodiazepine) and diphenylprolinol, a compound used as a designer drug . Diclazepam tablets have been identified as containing nimetazepam, a widely prescribed and abused drug in southeast Asia and an NPS‐benzodiazepine in Europe itself and some illicit tablets of nimetazepam (also known as Ermin 5) have been found to contain phenazepam . In addition, in the 2016 EMCDDA drug report it was noted that alprazolam tablets had been identified as containing flubromazolam and diazepam tablets had been identified to contain phenazepam .…”

Section: The Composition Of Illicitly‐sold Nps‐benzodiazepinesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…184 Diclazepam tablets have been identified as containing nimetazepam, 184 a widely prescribed and abused drug in southeast Asia 190 and an NPS-benzodiazepine in Europe itself 17 and some illicit tablets of nimetazepam (also known as Ermin 5) have been found to contain phenazepam. 191 In addition, in the 2016 EMCDDA drug report it was noted that alprazolam tablets had been identified as containing flubromazolam and diazepam tablets had been identified to contain phenazepam. 3 This is a huge problem for drug users as they may be inadvertently taking a drug potentially many times more harmful than expected because of the lack of information regarding drug-drug interactions.…”

Section: The Composition Of Illicitly-sold Nps-benzodiazepinesmentioning

confidence: 99%

The emergence of new psychoactive substance (NPS) benzodiazepines: A review

Manchester

Lomas

Waters

et al. 2017

Drug Testing and Analysis

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The market for new psychoactive substances has increased markedly in recent years and there is now a steady stream of compounds appearing every year. Benzodiazepines consist of only a fraction of the total number of these compounds but their use and misuse has rapidly increased.Some of these benzodiazepines have only been patented, some of them have not been previously synthesised, and the majority have never undergone clinical trials or tests. Despite their structural and chemical similarity, large differences exist between the benzodiazepines in their pharmacokinetic parameters and metabolic pathways and so they are not easily comparable. As benzodiazepines have been clinically used since the 1960s, many analytical methods exist to quantify them in a variety of biological matrices and it is expected that these methods would also be suitable for the detection of benzodiazepines that are novel psychoactive substances. Illicitly obtained benzodiazepines have been found to contain a wide range of compounds such as opiates which presents a problem since the use of them in conjunction with each other can lead to respiratory depression and death. This review collates the available information on these benzodiazepines and provides a starting point for the further investigation of their pharmacokinetics which is clearly required.

show abstract

“…They are divided into: normal phase and reversed phase (RP) columns. RP columns such as C 18 [ 91 , 109 ], C 8 [ 93 , 151 ], and C 6 H 5 [ 136 ] are used for separating non-polar BDZs.…”

Section: Determination Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%