This grade answers one narrow question: how strong is the public evidence and safety record behind this drug, and how clean is its money trail and court record? It is not a verdict on whether the drug is right for you.
WARNING: RISKS FROM CONCOMITANT USE WITH OPIOIDS Concomitant use of benzodiazepines and opioids may result in profound sedation, respiratory depression, coma, and death (see WARNINGS and Drug Interactions ). • Reserve concomitant prescribing of these drugs for use in patients for whom alternative treatment options are inadequate. • Limit dosages and durations to the minimum required. • Follow patients for signs and symptoms of respiratory depression and sedation.
INDICATIONS AND USAGE Temazepam Capsules USP are indicated for the short-term treatment of insomnia (generally 7 to 10 days). For patients with short-term insomnia, instructions in the prescription should indicate that Temazepam Capsules USP should be used for short periods of time (7 to 10 days). The clinical trials performed in support of efficacy were 2 weeks in duration with the final formal assessment of sleep latency performed at the end of treatment.
CONTRAINDICATIONS Benzodiazepines may cause fetal harm when administered to a pregnant woman. An increased risk of congenital malformations associated with the use of diazepam and chlordiazepoxide during the first trimester of pregnancy has been suggested in several studies. Transplacental distribution has resulted in neonatal CNS depression following the ingestion of therapeutic doses of a benzodiazepine hypnotic during the last weeks of pregnancy. Reproduction studies in animals with temazepam were performed in rats and rabbits. In a perinatal-postnatal study in rats, oral doses of 60 mg/kg/day resulted in increasing nursling mortality. Teratology studies in rats demonstrated increased fetal resorptions at doses of 30 and 120 mg/kg in one study and increased occurrence of rudimentary ribs, which are considered skeletal variants, in a second study at doses of 240 mg/kg or higher. In rabbits, occasional abnormalities such as exencephaly and fusion or asymmetry of ribs were reported without dose relationship. Although these abnormalities were not found in the concurrent control group, they have been reported to occur randomly in historical controls. At doses of 40 mg/kg or higher, t...
WARNINGS Concomitant use of benzodiazepines, including temazepam capsules, and opioids may result in profound sedation, respiratory depression, coma, and death. Because of these risks, reserve concomitant prescribing of these drugs for use in patients for whom alternative treatment options are inadequate. Observational studies have demonstrated that concomitant use of opioid analgesics and benzodiazepines increases the risk of drug-related mortality compared to use of opioids alone. If a decision is made to prescribe temazepam capsules concomitantly with opioids, prescribe the lowest effective dosages and minimum durations of concomitant use, and follow patients closely for signs and symptoms of respiratory depression and sedation. In patients already receiving an opioid analgesic, prescribe a lower initial dose of temazepam capsules than indicated in the absence of an opioid and titrate based on clinical response. If an opioid is initiated in a patient already taking temazepam capsules, prescribe a lower initial dose of the opioid and titrate based upon clinical response. Advise both patients and caregivers about the risks of respiratory depression and sedation when temazepam caps...
ADVERSE REACTIONS During controlled clinical studies in which 1076 patients received temazepam capsules at bedtime, the drug was well tolerated. Side effects were usually mild and transient. Adverse reactions occurring in 1% or more of patients are presented in the following table: Temazepam Capsules % Incidence (n=1076) Placebo % Incidence (n=783) Drowsiness 9.1 5.6 Headache 8.5 9.1 Fatigue 4.8 4.7 Nervousness 4.6 8.2 Lethargy 4.5 3.4 Dizziness 4.5 3.3 Nausea 3.1 3.8 Hangover 2.5 1.1 Anxiety 2.0 1.5 Depression 1.7 1.8 Dry Mouth 1.7 2.2 Diarrhea 1.7 1.1 Abdominal Discomfort 1.5 1.9 Euphoria 1.5 0.4 Weakness 1.4 0.9 Confusion 1.3 0.5 Blurred Vision 1.3 1.3 Nightmares 1.2 1.7 Vertigo 1.2 0.8 The following adverse events have been reported less frequently (0.5% to 0.9%): Central Nervous System – anorexia, ataxia, equilibrium loss, tremor, increased dreaming Cardiovascular – dyspnea, palpitations Gastrointestinal – vomiting Musculoskeletal – backache Special Senses – hyperhidrosis, burning eyes Amnesia, hallucinations, horizontal nystagmus, and paradoxical reactions including restlessness, overstimulation and agitation were rare (less than 0.5%).
Source: FDA SPL label for TEMAZEPAM (Aphena Pharma Solutions - Tennessee, LLC), effective 20190326. Full label on DailyMed.
These are counts of reports people filed, not rates of harm. Anyone can file one, and nobody checks whether the drug was the cause. Millions of doses are taken for every report sent, so the useful part is how this drug compares with the average across all drugs.
| 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2,660 | 2,451 | 1,882 | 1,345 | 1,421 | 1,525 | 1,171 | 520 |
1,436 reports blaming this drug for every million Medicare prescriptions filled, which is 0.5× the typical drug on this site. (3,186 reports in 2024–2026, against 2,218,789 Medicare fills in one year. This is the one number here that accounts for how many people take the drug.)
Source: the FDA's Adverse Event Reporting System (FAERS). Reports are voluntary and unverified. Drugs that are prescribed a lot, in the news, or in lawsuits attract more reports, so the percentages are compared with the whole database to correct for that partly, not fully.
Counts measure how much evidence exists and how transparent it is, not how big the benefit is. For that, ask your prescriber: if 100 people like me took this, how many would get better because of it, and how many would be harmed? (Doctors call these the "number needed to treat" and "number needed to harm.") It differs by condition and is the number drug ads leave out. Sources: PubMed, ClinicalTrials.gov.
In 2024, drug companies reported $0 in payments to US physicians and hospitals tied to this drug across 0 transactions.
No pending federal MDL names this drug or its brands.
Not named in any federal pharmaceutical settlement of $100M or more on record.
Sources: CMS Open Payments (Sunshine Act); Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation pending docket list; DOJ settlements as tabulated on Wikipedia with links to the primary record. State-court and individual suits are not included.
| Product | Fills | $/fill |
|---|---|---|
| Temazepam | 2,218,319 | $12 |
| Restoril | 470 | $1,517 |
Same ATC pharmacological class, graded ones first, best grade at the top. Being in the same class does not make them interchangeable for your condition; it makes them worth asking about.