Dose-Finding and Premedication Studies with Zopiclone

Abstract

The new non-benzodiazepine hypnotic, zopiclone, was investigated as a preanaesthetic medication in a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study in healthy patients scheduled for minor gynaecological surgery. Initially a dose-finding study was conducted in which zopiclone 3.75 mg, 7.5, and 11.25 mg was compared with diazepam 10 mg and placebo; 7.5 mg was established as the optimum dose of zopiclone. In the main study zopiclone 7.5 mg was comparable to diazepam 10 mg at 20, 40, and 60 min after administration and more efficacious at 90 min.

Comparison of zopiclone and flurazepam treatments in insomnia

“…Following its absorption, zopiclone is distributed in various tissues including the brain (Gaillot et al, 1982), and rapidly eliminated, its terminal half-life varying between 3 and 5 h (Gaillot et al, 1982;Houghton et al, 1985). An optimum therapeutic dose of 7.5 mg of zopiclone was determined from different acute dose-response studies in which the drug was administered to healthy patients scheduled for minor surgery (Dundee et al, 1982) and to young (Elie,198 1) and geriatric (Elie and Deschgnes, 1983;Dehlin et al, 1983) insomniacs. However, it has been suggested that, in a certain number of patients, higher dose of zopiclone may be required to control insomnia.…”