Reform Initiatives
The Alliance is committed to following an evidenced-based approach to determine and implement initiatives that will result in best practice prescribing and discontinuation of benzodiazepines while improving the health of patients and decreasing patient suffering. Through research on long-term use, and from the anecdotal stories of thousands of patients, much evidence now exists describing the dangers of benzodiazepines. We acknowledge that in severe cases, these drugs can save lives in certain, though limited, circumstances. However, much of the evidence-based data is old, needs updating, and requires reconsideration based on newer understandings of neurophysiology. Knowledge gaps remain and need further exploration.
The Alliance for Benzodiazepine Best Practices seeks a balanced approach, which includes a patient’s right to make an informed choice in a shared decision-making process complemented by a prescriber’s thorough understanding of the risks, benefits, and alternatives to yield the best possible outcome for the patient. To this end, the Alliance is engaged in several programs. These include:
Scientific literature review and analysis
- Publishing scientific articles about benzodiazepines and Z-drugs
- Defining and funding an original research project on benzodiazepines
- Providing a prescriber education series across the US and elsewhere, which often includes CME credit
- Defining and championing regulatory reform
Collating the Current Evidence
Many studies have touched on some aspect of benzodiazepines. Our Benzodiazepine Reference Library contains links to over a thousand reviews and studies about benzodiazepines. The data about the problems with benzodiazepines is scattered throughout many of these studies. It is clear that systematic reviews and meta-analyses of the literature on benzodiazepines is needed from several perspectives in order to illuminate the appropriate use of and problems with benzodiazepines as well as to determine and highlight the gaps in the evidence. The Alliance is actively sponsoring and working with partners to perform such reviews or analyses, and is seeking other researchers interested in this activity.
Filling the Evidence Gaps
From our review of the literature, the Alliance for Benzodiazepine Best Practices has determined that sometimes conflicting or confusing data has been presented. Even some of the most basic questions, such as the benzodiazepine “addiction” rate, do not have generally-accepted answers. It is our expectation that the reviews of current papers will also illuminate other needs for clarifying data and bolster the overall scope of understanding benzodiazepines.
