Benzodiazepines: Thinking outside the black box

WHAT IS KNOWN AND OBJECTIVE

The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently issued a Drug Safety Communication requiring Boxed Warning updating and other changes in order to improve the safe use of the benzodiazepine drug class. These changes were prompted because 'The current prescribing information for benzodiazepines does not provide adequate warnings about [the] serious risks and harms associated with these medicines so they may be prescribed and used inappropriately'.

COMMENT

The FDA Communication points out that benzodiazepines can be an important option for treating disorders for which these drugs are indicated. However, the acknowledged problems of these drugs, which historically were considered an acceptable trade-off against their benefits, need to be reassessed in light of their widespread (over?) prescribing (for example, in 2019 an estimated 92 million benzodiazepine prescriptions were dispensed from US retail and mail-order pharmacies).

WHAT IS NEW AND CONCLUSION

The FDA Communication can be viewed as an important step in reminding healthcare providers of the 'serious risks and harms associated with these medicines', and validation of such reports by patients. Importantly, the FDA Communication includes an often-neglected aspect of benzodiazepine prescribing, namely how to discontinue use, and the perplexing protracted withdrawal syndrome experienced by some patients. The Communication advises to providers: 'No standard benzodiazepine tapering schedule is suitable for all patients; therefore, create a patient-specific plan to gradually reduce the dosage, and ensure ongoing monitoring and support as needed to avoid serious withdrawal symptoms or worsening of the patient's medical condition'.