Molindone and haloperidol in tardive dyskinesia

Preliminary results are described from a study of 11 outpatients manifesting exacerbated tardive dyskinesia after tapering and withdrawal of neuroleptic medications. Patients were randomly assigned to molindone or haloperidol under double-blind placebo-controlled conditions to compare the masking effects of the two drugs. Haloperidol treatment masked withdrawal-exacerbated tardive dyskinesia more than molindone did; this difference (measured by percent change in AIMS scores) was significant (p = .04) when the dose was 200% but not 100% of the prestudy neuroleptic dose. Despite several limitations to the study, the results suggest that molindone may have less dyskinetogenic potential than haloperidol. Further research in the area of site-specificity of molindone is indicated.