Bromazolam is classified as a novel benzodiazepine. Limited peer reviewed literature is available describing bromazolam.

Bromazolam (also known by the name XLI-268) is a benzodiazepine derivative which was first synthesised in 1976, but was never marketed. It has subsequently been sold as a designer drug, first being definitively identified by the EMCDDA in Sweden in 2016.

It is the bromo instead of chloro analogue of alprazolam, and has similar sedative and anxiolytic effects.

Bromazolam started popping up in crime labs in the US in the beginning of 2020, according to our source at HIDTA.

The formal name for this new drug is 8-bromo-1-methyl-6-phenyl-4H-[1,2,4]triazolo[4,3-a][1,4]benzodiazepine.

June 2022 NPS Alert: Bromazolam Prevalence Surgining Across the US

January 2024 CDC MMWR Report: Notes from the Field: Seizures, Hyperthermia, and Myocardial Injury in Three Young Adults Who Consumed Bromazolam Disguised as Alprazolam — Chicago, Illinois, February 2023