Delivery methods of schizophrenia medicines compared in new study (09/27/06)
More than half of all schizophrenia patients don't take their medication as directed, which is a major problem. Therefore, researchers will perform a new study to determine whether regular physician visits and injectable drugs can change that. The researchers will compare whether people who get the injectable medicine will do better either in their symptoms or their functioning and have less relapses over 30 months of treatment.
Source: Medi Lexicon, Saturday, September 16, 2006
Read more in article at www.pharma-lexicon.com

Snail toxin may help scientists develop medications against schizophrenia (09/26/06)
American researchers have discovered a new toxin from a venomous snail that may enable scientists to more effectively develop medications for a wide range of nervous system disorders, like Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease, depression, nicotine addiction and perhaps even schizophrenia.
Source: Medical News Today, Saturday, August 26, 2006
Read more in article at www.medicalnewstoday.com

Medications linked to heat-related death (08/07/06)
Certain medications used to treat patients with mental illness can affect a person’s ability to feel heat and can lead to an increased risk of heat stroke in extreme weather conditions, according to a new study.
Source: Fortwayne.com, Friday, July 21, 2006
Read more in article at www.fortwayne.com

Combination therapy does not improve treatment of schizophrenia (02/05/06)
Combining two antipsychotic drugs, clozapine and risperidone, offers no benefit in treating people with severe schizophrenia compared to the use of either drug alone, according to a new report from Canada.
Source: womenshealth.gov, Wednesday, February 1, and New England Journal of Medicine. v. 354(5), p. 472-482, 2006
Read more in article at www.4women.org
PubMed abstract

New antipsychotic drug prevents brain loss in schizophrenia (04/10/05)
A new brain imaging study of recently diagnosed schizophrenia patients has found that the loss of gray matter typically experienced by patients can be prevented by one of the new atypical antipsychotic drugs, olanzapine, but not by haloperidol, an older, conventional drug.
Source: Innovations Report, Tuesday, April 5, Doctor's Guide, Thursday, April 7, and Archives of General Psychiatry. v. 62(4), p. 361-70, 2005
Read more in article at www.innovations-report.com
Read more in article at www.docguide.com
PubMed abstract

Antipsychotic medications may treat virus disease in the brain (11/23/04)
A study shows the antipsychotic drug clozapine can protect cells in the brain from a virus that causes a fatal nervous system disorder called progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy or PML. The disease affects people with weakened immune systems, such as individuals with AIDS or organ transplant patients.
Source: BBC News, Sunday, November 21, and Science v. 306(5700), p. 1380-3, 2004
Read more in article at news.bbc.co.uk
PubMed abstract

Use of painkillers during pregnancy tied to schizophrenia (11/06/04)
Babies that are exposed to painkillers during the later stages of pregnancy appear to have an increased risk of developing schizophrenia in adulthood, according to a Danish study. Among the 8000 individuals that were investigated in the study, 116 cases of schizophrenia were identified. Exposure to analgesics during late pregnancy was associated with a nearly five-fold increased risk of schizophrenia.
Source: ABC News, Thursday, November 4, and British Journal of Psychiatry, v. 185, p. 366-71, 2004
Read more in article at abcnews.go.com
PubMed abstract

Antipsychotics may cause insulin problems in kids (10/22/04)
A study in which three commonly used drugs - olanzapine (Zyprexa), quetiapine (Seroquel), and risperidone (Risperdal) - that are used to treat children and teens with aggression, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia may lead to insulin problems. This, in turn, could lead to an increased risk for type 2 diabetes and heart disease later in life.
Source: HealthScout, Thursday, October 21, 2004
Read more in article at www.healthscout.com

Change of medication may lead to clinical improvement (06/26/04)
Adults in the early stage of schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder whose symptoms were considered stable on their antipsychotic medication, experienced significant clinical improvements as early as one month after treatment was transitioned to RISPERDAL® CONSTA™ (risperidone) long-acting injection. One of the researchers say the results are important because they suggest that changing patients' medication to an atypical, long-acting injectable treatment could result in further improvements in symptom control.
Source: Medical News Today, Thursday, June 24, 2004
Read more in article at www.medicalnewstoday.com

American study tests schizophrenia medication in teenagers (05/21/04)
The University of Kansas Hospital is participating in a nationwide pharmaceutical research study to assess the safety and effectiveness of a medication for teenagers between 13 and 17, who show symptoms of schizophrenia. The medication, which is normally used in adults, will be tested for eight weeks in different doses.
Source: Kansas City Nursing News, Wednesday, May 19, 2004
Read more in article at www.zwire.com

Schizophrenic patients with paranoid symptoms improve after switch to injectable form of risperidone (05/12/04)
A study shows long-acting, injectable risperidone reduces symptoms significantly in stabilised paranoid schizophrenic patients who are switched from a prior form of antipsychotic treatment.
Source: Doctor's Guide, Friday, May 7, 2004
Read more in article at www.docguide.com

Olanzapine more effective than risperidone against schizophrenia symptoms related to social functioning (05/12/04)
Olanzapine (Zyprexa) is significantly more effective than risperidone in the treatment of negative symptoms of social functioning in long-term schizophrenia, say researchers.
Source: Doctor's Guide, Thursday, May 6, 2004
Read more in article at www.docguide.com

Program for testing new medications against cognitive deficits in schizophrenia (05/12/04)
The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) in the US has awarded a four-year, $9 million grant to the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and five other academic medical centers to create a network of Treatment Units for Research on Neurocognition and Schizophrenia (TURNS). The research will test the effectiveness of different drug treatments for the cognitive deficits of schizophrenia.
Source: News-Medical.net, Wednesday, May 5, 2004
Read more in article at www.news-medical.net

New efficient medication combination (04/24/04)
An Italian study shows that the addition of mirtazapine to the treatment of schizophrenia with clozapine increases the effects on the negative symptoms associated with schizophrenia.
Source: Doctor's Guide, Wednesday, April 21, 2004
Read more in article at www.docguide.com
PubMed abstract

Newer antispychotics prevent violent behaviour (04/17/04)
Research shows that atypical antipsychotics lower the risk of violent behavior in people with schizophrenia. In a current study, the researchers found that patients who consistently took one of the newer medications had less than one-third the propensity of getting into fights or engaging in violent actions toward others, compared to subjects who consistently took one of the older antipsychotic medications.
Source: Science Blog, Monday, April 12, 2004
Read more in article at www.scienceblog.com

Most schizophrenia patients don't take their medication as prescribed (04/02/04)
An American study shows that most patients with schizophrenia don't stick to their medication programs. Only four out of ten patients in the study took their medication as the physician had prescribed. Especially younger patients and people with a substance abuse were less likely to take their medications as prescribed.
Source: American Journal of Psychiatry, v. 161(4), p. 692-9, and Doctor's Guide and Helathcentral, Tuesday, April 1, 2004
Read more in article at www.docguide.com
Read more in article at www.healthcentral.com
PubMed abstract

Glycine helps reduce symptoms in schizophrenic patients (03/17/04)
A new study shows that glycine in high doses may increase the efficacy of the atypical antipsychotics olanzapine and risperidone in schizophrenia patients. The authors of the article suggest that these agents may affect the N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor-mediated neurotransmission differently than clozapine does.
Source: Biol Psychiatry, v. 55(2), p. 165-71, and Doctor's Guide, Tuesday, March 16, 2004
Read more in article at www.docguide.com
PubMed abstract

Quetiapine causes less EEG abnormalities than haloperidol and olanzapine (03/14/04)
The degree of electroencephalogram (EEG) abnormalities in patients taking quetiapine is significantly lower than in those taking haloperidol and olanzapine, and is comparable to the degree of EEG abnormalities in healthy individuals, a new study shows.
Source: Hum Psychopharmacol. v. 18(8), p. 641-6, 2003, and Doctor's Guide, Wednesday, March 10, 2004
Read more in article at www.docguide.com
PubMed abstract

Schizophrenics may benefit from levodopa treatment (03/13/04)
A new study shows that the addition of levodopa (L-dopa) to treatment appears beneficial in patients with schizophrenia who are already taking antipsychotic drugs.
Source: Doctor's Guide, Tuesday, March 9, 2004
Read more in article at www.docguide.com

Geodon preferable for patients who don't respond to other medications (03/06/04)
Schizophrenia patients who respond poorly to the treatment with other schizophrenic medications may benefit from switching to Geodon, according to the results of three studies. In addition, unlike many of the new antipsychotic drugs, Geodon does not appear to cause weight gain or increase the risk of type 2 diabetes.
Source: Web MD, Tuesday, March 1, 2004
Read more in article at www.webmd.com

Haloperidol and risperidone may have opposite effects on schizophrenic patients (01/17/04)
A current study shows that two common antispychotic medications haloperidol and risperidone, may have opposite effects on the corticospinal excitability in schizophrenic patients.
Source: International Journal of Clinical Practice, v. 57(9), p. 831-3, 2003, and Doctor's Guide, Thursday, January 15, 2004
Read more in article at www.docguide.com
PubMed abstract

Naltrexone can be used to treat alcoholism in schizophrenic patients (12/16/03)
An American study shows that the already approved drug Naltrexone effectively and safely reduces alcohol use, cravings and heavy drinking in schizophrenic men with alcohol dependence.
Source: Psychopharmacology, online version November 21, and Doctor's Guide, Wednesday, December 10, 2003
Read more in article at www.docguide.com
PubMed abstract

Dose reduction effective against chronic schizophrenia (11/17/03)
A recent clinical study in Japan shows that a dose reduction is beneficial in most cases of antipsychotic treatment. Unfortunately, overdosing is still common in the psychiatric healthcare.
Source: Int Clin Psychopharmacol., vol. 18(6), p. 323-9 and Doctor's Guide, Friday, November 14, 2003
Read more in article at www.docguide.com
PubMed abstract

Haloperidol linked to alterations in certain parts of the brain (11/17/03)
A study shows that haloperidol may exacerbate the alterations of certain regions of the brain that can be observed in schizophrenic patients. The findings were presented at Society for Neuroscience's annual meeting in New Orleans last week. The same study showed that another antipsychotic drug, olanzapine, does not have the same effects as haloperidol.
Source: Doctor's Guide, Tuesday, November 11, 2003
Read more in article at www.docguide.com

Substance abuse in schizophrenia patients may not be associated with self medication (10/29/03)
Approximately 50 to 60% of schizophrenia patients also have a history of substance abuse, which is associated with a significantly worse patient outcome. Researchers now say theories related to self-medication of symptoms and side effects do not appear to account for the difference in rates of substance use observed in schizophrenia patients treated with atypical versus conventional antipsychotic medications.
Source: Doctor's Guide, Thursday, October 16, 2003
Read more in article at www.docguide.com

Quetiapine as effective as haloperidol in treating schizophrenia in the emergency setting (10/15/03)
Quetiapine (Seroquel) is as effective in treating schizophrenia in the emergency setting as haloperidol (Haldol). It may be in addition eliminate the negative symptoms better. These findings were presented at the 16th Congress of the European College of Neuropsychopharmacology in Prague, Czech Republic.
Source: Doctor's Guide, Tuesday, October 7, 2003
Read more in article at www.docguide.com

Use of new antipsychotic drugs may lead to inflammation of the pancreas (09/07/03)
An American research team has found that there may be a link between some newer drugs prescribed for schizophrenia and a severe inflammation of the pancreas. The study looked at patients taking any of four antipsychotic drugs, Clozaril, Zyprexa, Risperdal and Haldol. Nearly 200 cases of pancreatitis were investigated. The results show that more cases were associated with Clozaril, Zyprexa or Risperdal, three newer drugs, than with Haldol, an older generation drug.
Source: New York Times, Tuesday, September 2, 2003
Read more in article at www.nytimes.com

Clozaril may prevent suicide among schizophrenics (01/22/03)
It is not uncommon that patients with psychiatric illness attempt suicide - approximately 50% of patients with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder make attempts, and around 10% die. Research now suggests that the antipsychotic drug clozaril significantly reduces suicidal behavior in these patients.
Source: Archives of General Psychiatry, v. 60(2), p. 82-91, and Doctor's Guide and The Age, 2003
Medline abstract
Read more in article from docguide.com
Read more in article from theage.com.au

Risk for diabetes after Zyprexa treatment (07/03/02)
A study published in the journal Pharmacotherapy shows that the atypical antipsychotic drug olanzapine, whose commercial name is Zyprexa, may cause blood sugar problems. The scientists found not only mild problems, but also discovered a serious condition called diabetic ketoacidosis and coma in patients who had been given olanzapine. Most of the subjects had not had diabetes problems at all before the treatment.
Source: Pharmacotherapy, July 2 issue and HealthScout, 2002
Read more in article on Yahoo! - News

New research may help solve problem with patients who don't take their medication (03/21/02)
Over half of all schizophrenic patients have for some reason or the other problems keeping to their prescribed medications. Experts think that the negative attitudes to taking medications could be ovecome by making it simpler and less intrusive. An article in British Journal of Molecular Psychiatry shows that drugs used to treat schizophrenia and depression linger in the brain long after they have left the bloodstream, so brain scans might be a better method of choice than blood analysis to judge the correct dose for a patient. The authors of the study conclude that ulitmately, their findings could lead to alternate forms of dosing, like injectables or once-a-month dosing.
Source: Yahoo! - Reuters and British Journal Molecular Psychiatry, March, 2002
Read more in article on Yahoo! - Reuters

The biological mechanisms behind Prozac's action revealed (03/10/02)
The antipsychotic drug Procac exerts its effects by increasing the levels of the endogenous transmitter serotonin. How this happens has however not been fully known. In an article in the March 5 issue of the journal Proceedings of National Academy of sciences, PNAS, the authors report that, and by what mechanisms, a protein called DARPP-32 (which has primarily been characterized in relation to dopaminergic neurotransmission) is upregulated by serotonin.
Source: Proceedings of National Academy of Sciences, March 5, Vol. 99(5), p. 3188-93, 2002
Medline abstract
Read article on Yahoo! - Reuters

Review article on comparative studies of atypical antipsychotics in Psychiatric Times (01/29/02)
Atypical antipsychotics is the most common choice of medication in treatment of psychiatric disorders today. This review article brings up recent investigations comparing different atypical antipsychotic agents, outcomes demonstrated from trials, and dicusses the difficulties in applying results from such studies on clinical practice.
Source: Psychiatric Times, January, Vol. XIX Issue 1, 2002
Article in Psychiatric Times

Association between hyperglycemia and atypical antipsychotics in pediatric patients (11/28/01)
Physicians treating pediatric psychotic disorders with atypical antipsychotic agents should consider monitoring patients for hyperglycemia, according to a letter to the Journal of the American Medical Association( JAMA) by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Duke University Medical Center. According to the authors "hyperglycemia has been associated with the atypical antipsychotic agents clozapine and olanzapine and a recent case report described diabetic ketoacidosis associated with olanzapine in a pediatric patient." Triggered by this finding, the association between hyperglycemia and two atypic antipsychotic drugs have been investigated. Source: JAMA Vol. 286 No. 20, November 28, 2001
Read the letter

The effects of antipsychotic drugs on hypoglutamatergic mice (11/12/01)
Mice rendered hypoglutamatergic by means of MK-801 treatment show a general behavioural primitivization. The effect of four different antipsychotic drugs were studied on such hypoglutamatergic mice. The researchers found that "each receptor antagonist had a unique effect on the MK-801-induced behavioural primitivization. Haloperidol was unable to affect the monotonous behaviour induced by MK-801, while risperidone, clozapine and M100907 produced movement patterns of high intricacy".
Source: J Neural Transm. 2001 Oct;108(10):1181-1196
Read an abstract

Alzheimer's disease patients treated with neuroleptics at risk for aspiration pneumonia (10/02/01)
Swallowing function is an important parameter associated to aspiration pneumonia. A recent Japanses study has investigated risk factors for aspiration pneumonia in Alzheimer's disease patients treated in psychiatric hospitals. The researchers found that the mean latency of the swallowing reflex after the intake of neuroleptics was significantly prolonged compared to that obtained before any neuroleptic intake. They therefore recommend "the use of the smallest efficacious dosage of neuroleptics especially in treating severely demented AD patients with basal-ganglia infarction. As soon as the behavioral and psychiatric problems are resolved, drug tapering or discontinuation should be considered in order to prevent life-threatening aspiration pneumonia."
Source: Gerontology 47:5:2001, 271-276
Read an abstract at the journal Gerontology

Antibodies in the treatment of schizophrenia (09/17/01)
A review in the journal Current Drug Targets focuses on the strategy of using antibodies in the treatment of mental and neurological disorders like schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. The authors have generated monoclonal antibodies that act as modulators of receptor-ion channel complexes on the cell surface, and shown that these can be used as partial agonists to the N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor. The article also discusses the creation of peptide mimetics, derived from the monoclonal antibodies, which may be useful as cognitive enhancers and protectors of neurons.
Source: Current Drug Targets 2001; 2(3):331-345
Read medline abstract for current article
Current Drug Target's homepage

New guidelines to make sure that drug companies does not interfere with academic publications (09/13/01)
It is expensive to develop a new drug- in the US the estimated cost is around $500 million. Today, an increasingly larger share of the trials are performed in order to gain approval of a new device or drug. The role of the pharmaceutical companies are becoming more important, since they conduct more of the trials which often are conducted by private nonacademic research groups.

In the academic world, a fear has arisen that drug companies might influence what data is published. Also, it is vital to ensure that the individual researchers stand independent from the pharmaceutical companies. In an effort to make sure that drug companies does not influence academic publications in any way, a group of editors from some of the most prestigious scientific and medical journals have created new guidelines. A joint editorial with new publishing guidelines has been put together by journals which make up the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors.

The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) has expressed their support for the new guidelines.
Read more at ABC News
Read the editorial "Sponsorship, Authorship, and Accountability " at JAMA

Vitamin B6 reduces symptoms of tardive dyskinesia in schizophrenic patients (09/09/01)
One of the symptoms sometimes seen in schizophrenic patients, tardive dyskinesia, is a serious motor side effect of long term neuroleptic therapy, with an unknown pathophysiological basis. The leading hypothesis of the pathophysiology of tardive dyskinesia includes dopamine receptor supersensitivity, GABAergic hypofunction, excytotoxicity and oxidative stress. Reports point at treatment with vitamin B6 being effective in reducing symptoms of tardive dyskinesia in schizophrenic patients.
Source: American Journal of Psychiatry (AJP) 2001; 158(9):1511-1514
Read medline abstract for current article
Read the full text of the article in AJP

Antipsychotic medications and heart rate variability (09/03/01)
In a recent study from Israel, Hagrit Cohen and coworkers have analyzed heart rate in patients with schizophrenia on standard doses of neuroleptic monotherapy. Approximately twenty patients on each of the neuroleptics clozapine, haloperidol and olanzapine were investigated and compared to 53 healthy subjects.
The researchers saw a correlation between the type of neuroleptica and heart rate parameters. They conclude "Patients treated with neuroleptic medications, especially clozapine, showed autonomic dysregulation and cardiac repolarisation changes". The authors also considers it important that physicians to be aware of this adverse reaction.
Source: Br. J. Psychiatry 2001 179: 167-171
Read an abstract

Some antipsychotic drugs seem to be linked to heart muscle disorders (05/21/01)
A data mining study using an international database on adverse drug reactions was performed to examine the relation between antipsychotic drugs and myocarditis and cardiomyopathy.
The main result was an association between clozapine and cardiomyopathy and myocarditis. Other antipsychotics were also associated to heart conditions; according to the authors further investigations are necessary for lithium, chlorpromazine, fluphenazine, haloperidol, and risperidone.
According to the authors, an impliction is that antipsychotic drugs should be considered in unexplained sudden deaths in psychotic patients. Source: British Medical Journal (BMJ) 2001;322:1207-1209 (19 May)
Read abstract in BMJ
Read the full text of the article in BMJ

Research news about the antipsychotic substance olanzapine (Zyprexa) (03/09/01)
A number of articles about the antipsychotic substance olanzapine were recently published in The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry
For links to PubMed abstracts

Clozapine and neurotransmisson of dopamin and serotonin (02/23/01)
In a dissertation presented at KI on february 23, Yua-Hwa Chou uses the brain imagin technique PET to study dopamine and serotonin neurotransmission. Especially, the possible mechanisms underlying the properties of clozapin were investigated.
Read more

Risperidone: mechanism of antipsychotic action (01/16/01)
Risperidones antipsychotic action entails a metabolic reduction in the ventral striatum, thalamus, prefrontal cortex and left hippocampus, predicting subsequent reductions in delusions and hallucinations, according to the results of this PET study.
Review of the article , editors Prof S. Montgomery and Prof L. Farde
Reference to the journal article in Br J Psychiatry 2000;177:402-407.

Patient knowledge about medication (01/16/01)
Patients with schizophrenia do not have sufficient knowledge about their medication, according to the conclusions of this survey in Slovenia.
Review of the article , editors Prof S. Montgomery and Prof L. Farde
Article published in Pharmacoepidemiol Drug Safety 2000;9:327-333.

Attitudes to medication (01/16/01)
A questionnaire for the quantitative assessment of attitudes to antipsychotic medication is useful in identifying negative attitudes and poor insight, according to the results of this study on a mixed population of psychotic and non-psychotic patients.
Review of the article , editors Prof S. Montgomery and Prof L. Farde
Reference to the journal article in Schiz Res 2000;45:223-234.

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