Controlled comparison of two anxiolytic benzodiazepines, cloxazolam and bromazepam

The clinical activity and the tolerance of cloxazolam (4 mg/day), a new anxiolytic benzodiazepine, was compared to bromazepam (12 mg/day) in two parallel groups of 427 and 410 psychiatric outpatients, respectively. The duration of the study was 4 weeks with clinical assessments at inclusion and after 2 and 4 weeks of therapy by the Hamilton anxiety scale and visual analogue scales. While the Hamilton anxiety scale did not exhibit significant differences between the two benzodiazepines, visual analogue scales showed significant superiority of cloxazolam over bromazepam on psychological anxiety, somatic anxiety, depressed mood, and sleep, with a lack of significant difference related to the sedative effect, but less muscle-relaxant effect with cloxazolam than with bromazepam. The better efficacy and tolerance of cloxazolam compared to bromazepam was confirmed by the global assessments using visual analogue scales; moreover, a significantly larger proportion of patients in the cloxazolam group wanted to continue the same treatment.