Azapirones for the treatment of anxiety – an overview

Anxiety disorders belong to the most common psychiatric diagnosis. Over the years, benzodiazepines were considered the gold standard for pharmacological treatment of anxiety. They are effective anxiolytics, but unfortunately the long-term use of benzodiazepines is accompanied by many adverse events. An alternative to classical anxiolytics is a relatively new class of psychotherapeutic drugs – azapirones. They are 5-HT1A partial agonists commonly used in the treatment of generalized anxiety disorder and as augmentation for SSRI in social anxiety disorder and depression. Due to the high ratio of benefits to risk, azapirones are extensively studied for their use in other disease entities. The aim of this article was to overviewed current information on azapirones. Their history of development, mechanism of action, pharmacokinetics, interactions, clinical use and their role in the modern pharmacotherapy of anxiety.