Aprobarbital (or aprobarbitone), sold as Oramon, Somnifaine, and Allonal, is a barbiturate derivative invented in the 1920s by Ernst Preiswerk. It has sedative, hypnotic and anticonvulsant properties, and was used primarily for the treatment of insomnia.[1] Aprobarbital was never as widely used as more common barbiturate derivatives such as phenobarbital and is now rarely prescribed as it has been replaced by newer drugs with a better safety margin.