Staccato zaleplon

Staccato zaleplon (AZ-007) is an investigational, inhaled formulation of the nonbenzodiazepine hypnotic zaleplon delivered via Alexza Pharmaceuticals’ proprietary Staccato system, a hand‑held, single‑dose, chemically heated inhaler that rapidly vaporizes unformulated drug to create an excipient‑free aerosol for deep lung delivery.[8] By achieving “IV‑like” pharmacokinetics through pulmonary absorption, AZ-007 is being developed for the rapid induction of sleep in patients with insomnia, leveraging zaleplon’s very short half-life to minimize next‑day residual effects while using lower doses than oral zaleplon products.[8] Zaleplon itself is a pyrazolopyrimidine GABA-A receptor positive allosteric modulator that binds selectively to the benzodiazepine ω1 (BZ1) site on the GABA-A chloride channel complex, enhancing GABAergic inhibitory neurotransmission to produce sedative-hypnotic effects.[5][10]

Other names

AZ-007AZ007AZ 007Staccato zaleplon