Loperamide 1980s, prior to the expiration of US patent on 30 January 1990, McNeil company started to develop Imodium Advanced containing loperamide and simethicone for treating both diarrhea and gas. In March 1997, the company patented such combination. The drug was approved in June 1997 by the FDA as Imodium Multi-Symptom Relief in the form of a chewable tablet. In November 1993, loperamide was launched as an orally disintegrating tablet based on Zydis technology. Imodium Instant Melts from Johnson & Johnson is currently the only loperamide available in the form of orally disintegrating tablets. In 2013, loperamide in the form of
Loperamide abuse were made. In 2015, however, case reports of extremely high-dose loperamide resulting in opioid misuse were published. Dubbing it “the poor man's methadone", clinicians warned that increased restrictions on the availability of prescription opioids passed in response to the opioid epidemic were prompting recreational users to turn to loperamide as an over-the-counter treatment for withdrawal symptoms. The FDA responded to these warnings by calling on drug manufacturers to voluntarily limit the availability of loperamide for public-safety reasons, in an analogous manner to restrictions put on the sales of pseudoephedrine, to be sold only in limited amounts. Since 2015, several