Clobazam, sold under the brand names Frisium, Onfi and others, is a benzodiazepine class medication that was patented in 1968.

[6] The primary drug-development goal was to provide greater anxiolytic, anti-obsessive efficacy with fewer benzodiazepine-related side effects.

It is unclear if there are any benefits to clobazam over other seizure medications for children with Rolandic epilepsy or other epileptic syndromes.

[14] In Japan, clobazam is approved for adjunctive therapy in treatment-resistant epilepsy featuring complex partial seizures.

[17] The current FDA indicated for use in combination with other medicines is to control seizures in adults and children 2 years and older who have a specific severe form of epilepsy called Lennox-Gastaut syndrome.

[22] In December 2013, the FDA added warnings to the label for clobazam, that it can cause serious skin reactions, Stevens–Johnson syndrome, and toxic epidermal necrolysis, especially in the first eight weeks of treatment.

The risk of a fatal outcome is increased in cases of combined poisoning with other CNS depressants, including alcohol.

[34] In 1996, Nakamura et al. reported that clobazam and its active metabolite, N-desmethylclobazam (norclobazam), work by enhancing GABA-activated chloride influx at GABAA receptors,[35] creating a hyperpolarizing, inhibitory postsynaptic potential.

[36] It was also reported that these effects were inhibited by the GABA antagonist flumazenil, and that clobazam acts more efficiently in GABA-deficient brain tissue.