Directly after his dissertation, Håkan
Hall began working at Astra’s CNS section, which at the time
hade around 50 employees. Håkan became the head of the section
for biochemical pharmacology, and was hence responsible for the
biochemical characterization in the development of new CNS products,
such as medications for psychiatric disorders. The neuroleptics
at that time had more, and more severe, side effects than today’s
new antipsychotic drugs, which was a big problem. Håkan took
part in the development of for instance Roxiam (remoxipirid) and
raclopride, two substances with very selective effects on dopamine
D2 receptors. Raclopride was initially meant to be used as a medication
in the treatment of schizophrenia, but the development was terminated
when it was discovered that the substance caused serious side effects.
The concentration on raclopride was however
far from a failure, as raclopride was to be shown to be useful for
another purpose. Sometime around the  mid-eighties,
Håkan Hall was collaborating with among others Göran
Sedvall and Lars Farde at Karolinska Institutet’s Department
of Clinical Neuroscience. Together they discovered that raclopride,
with its selective binding to dopamine Dw2 receptors, could be used
as a tool to study dopamine receptors in the brain. By labeling
raclopride with a radioactive marker, it was possible to trace the
raclopride molecules by means of imaging techniques like autoradiography
with PET camera (position emission tomography) and in that way get
an idea about the distribution of dopamine D2 receptors in the human
brain.
However, performing such binding studies
in the living brain is not completely simple. Håkan Hall’s
coworker, Lars Farde, today section head at the Department of Clinical
Neuroscience at Karolinska Institutet has had great success in this
area. He has through his research and method development contributed
largely to the fact that dopamine receptors in living subjects today
can be studied by means of the PET camera in a very efficient way,
which has made the development of new and better antipsychotic medications
easier.
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