Focus on risperidone

Risperidone is a relatively new antipsychotic available world-wide since the early 1990s. It has been characterised as atypical, but shares some of the extrapyramidal side-effect profile of the earlier antipsychotics, when used at doses higher than those recommended by the manufacturer (4-6 mg/day). There is now adequate comparison with conventional antipsychotics to suggest its superiority, but a depot formulation is needed to complete the picture.