Ro15-4513 is a weak partial inverse agonist of the benzodiazepine class of drugs, developed by Hoffmann–La Roche in the 1980s. It acts as a competitive antagonist, and can therefore be an antidote to the acute impairment caused by alcohol.
Ro15-4513 is structurally related to the benzodiazepine antidote flumazenil.
The main interest in Ro15-4513 was as an antidote to alcohol. Flumazenil effectively blocks the effects of benzodiazepine agonists such as alprazolam and diazepam and so is used for treating overdoses of these drugs but is ineffective in blocking alcohol actions. Ro15-4513 was somewhat less effective than flumazenil at blocking the effects of benzodiazepines, but instead selectively blocked the effects of ethanol. This meant that in contrast to flumazenil, which is ineffective at treating alcohol overdoses, Ro15-4513 showed potential as a useful alcohol antidote. It is thought that Ro15-4513 antagonizes the effects of ethanol because the azido group at the 8- position of the benzene ring blocks the binding site for ethanol on the α4β3δ subtype of the GABAA receptor; flumazenil, which has a fluorine at this position, does not block this binding site and so does not counteract the effects of ethanol.
Dear John, I'm sorry I can't do this anymore
You're not the man I fell in love with
And I have to move on with my life, goodbye
Goodbye, goodbye, goodbye cool
You were the one who'd never leave
Beautiful eyes, you seemed so free
Touching your face I felt complete
Holding your hand my heart would weep
So everything that came out of your mouth was full of lies
You looked me right dead in the eyes
You'd call your girlfriends and tell them that I abused your trust
You did your best to demonize
You were the one who'd never leave
Beautiful eyes, you seemed so free
Touching your face I felt complete
Holding your hand my heart would weep
You were the one who raped my soul
Beautiful lies, you stole my hope
Touching your ass, I scratch the skin
Holding your neck, I tie the rope
(Pulling it tight)
You were the one who'd never leave
Beautiful eyes, you seemed so free
Touching your face I felt complete
Holding your hand my heart would weep
You were the one, the one for me
Now that you're gone it's hard to see
So much of me has gone away
There's no need to stay another day
But someone's got to pay
But someone's got to pay
But someone's got to pay
But someone's got to pay
But someone's got to pay
But someone's got to pay
But someone's got to pay