Suritozole is an investigational cognition enhancer. It acts as a partial inverse agonist

Inverse agonist

In the field of pharmacology, an inverse agonist is an agent that binds to the same receptor as an agonist but induces a pharmacological response opposite to that agonist....

 at the benzodiazepine receptor site on the GABA_A ion channel compex, but does not have either anxiogenic

Anxiogenic

An anxiogenic substance is one that causes anxiety. Anxiogenic effects can be measured by, for example, the hole-board test in rats and mice. A number of agents are used to provoke anxiety or panic in experimental models...

 or convulsant

Convulsant

A convulsant is a drug which induces convulsions and/or epileptic seizures, the opposite of an anticonvulsant. These drugs generally act as stimulants at low doses, but are not used for this purpose due to the risk of convulsions and consequent excitotoxicity...

 effects, unlike other BZD inverse agonists such as DMCM

DMCM

DMCM is a drug from the beta-carboline family. It acts as an inverse agonist of benzodiazepine receptors, meaning that it causes the opposite effects to the benzodiazepine class of drugs...

. It was investigated for the treatment of depression

Depression (mood)

Depression is a state of low mood and aversion to activity that can affect a person's thoughts, behaviour, feelings and physical well-being. Depressed people may feel sad, anxious, empty, hopeless, helpless, worthless, guilty, irritable, or restless...

 and Alzheimer's disease

Alzheimer's disease

Alzheimer's disease also known in medical literature as Alzheimer disease is the most common form of dementia. There is no cure for the disease, which worsens as it progresses, and eventually leads to death...

, but clinical development seems to have been discontinued.