Treatment of schizophrenia: let's talk dollars and sense

Schizophrenia is a major neurologic illness with an impact on public health that has been unappreciated. Newer and arguably more effective medication treatments are now available and hold considerable promise. The higher up-front cost of these drugs is, on current evidence, offset by other economic advantages and, from a humanitarian perspective, by the expectation of improved patient outcome with less drug toxicity. The extent to which these drugs replace older drug treatments will be determined by the relative influences of clinical, pharmacoeconomic, mental health administrative, and advocacy factors over the coming years.