Miltown revealed such an enormous market for minor tranquilizers that pharmaceutical companies scrambled to develop competitors. In 1960, Swiss drug maker Hoffmann-La Roche unveiled Librium, less sedating than Miltown but just as calming. In one famous experiment, the bitter-tasting drug tamed lions and tigers at the San Diego Zoo.
But Roche also had another drug in the works. Three years later, it rolled out Valium.
Valium quickly surpassed Miltown and Librium. Among its biggest selling points: no bitter taste, and it was nearly impossible to overdose on. (In one widely reported instance that came much later, a Reagan administration official tried to kill himself with a heavy dose of Valium but failed.)
By the end of the 1960s, Valium was the top-selling psychotropic drug in the country. In the '70s, it became the most widely prescribed drug of any kind. Like Miltown, Valium was everywhere: Mike Brady popped a couple on the television show "The Brady Bunch," and the Rolling Stones composed an ode to the drug, dubbing it "mother's little helper."
But at the height of its popularity, Valium became the target of critics who argued that people were becoming unhealthily dependent on the drug. The story of Barbara Gordon further eroded Valium's image. The television journalist's 1979 autobiography chronicled her addiction to Valium and the nervous breakdown -- and institutionalization -- she suffered when quitting the drug.
Jordan's story, "I'm Dancing as Fast as I Can," was made into a movie in 1982, the same year that Valium lost its coveted position as the bestselling drug in America.
Valium was replaced that year by the anti-ulcer drug Tagamet -- which perhaps signaled a new approach to anxiety altogether.
Doctors still write prescriptions for Valium today, but newer anti-anxiety drugs, such as Xanax and Ativan, are more commonly used. And increasingly, anxiety is treated with antidepressants. The top-selling drug these days is Lipitor, which perhaps suggests that these days, Americans are more concerned with their arteries than their nerves.
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health@latimes.com
