Valium

/val"ee euhm/, Pharm., Trademark.

a brand of diazepam.

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Trademark for a preparation of diazepam.

A tranquillizing drug used to treat anxiety and tension states and as an aid in sedation, first introduced in 1963, it belongs to the group of chemically related compounds called benzodiazepines, the first of which was synthesized in 1933. Side effects include drowsiness and muscular incoordination; physical dependence can result after prolonged use. The discovery of Valium and similar drugs led to a new era in psychopharmacology.

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▪ drug

      trade name of a tranquilizer drug introduced by the pharmaceutical company Hoffmann-La Roche in 1963. Safer and more effective than earlier sedative-hypnotic drugs, Valium quickly became a standard drug for the treatment of anxiety and one of the most commonly prescribed drugs of all time. Its association in the popular mind with harried middle-class housewives won it the nickname “Mother's Little Helper” in a 1966 song of that name by the British rock band the Rolling Stones (Rolling Stones, the). See also diazepam.

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