Bromazolam is classified as a novel benzodiazepine 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 is structurally similar to traditional benzodiazepines, including alprazolam (replacing the chlorine with a bromine) and bromazepam (addition of triazole ring). Alprazolam and bromazepam are Schedule IV substances in the United States; bromazolam is not explicitly scheduled.