Clinical experience with the neuroleptic zotepine--first results

The few patients examined in the pilot study so far lead us to believe that the new neuroleptic drug zotepine is a substance with good antipsychotic effectiveness. Among the side-effects, a marked sedative component is apparent which is perceived as being unpleasant by all patients due to its expression in the form of drowsiness and lack of vitality during the day. Here, problems with patient compliance may possibly arise. Extrapyramidal motor side-effects could not be observed except in one case in which therapy was consequently terminated. The changes observed in the EEG were interpreted as an increase in cerebral excitability, an effect known to be possible in connection with the administration of neuroleptic drugs. Altogether, on the basis of our first clinical experience with the new neuroleptic zotepine, we feel that this drug doses not yield a marked improvement in regard to the ratio of effect to side-effect when compared with the other neuroleptic drugs available at the present time. Our findings, however, tend to support suggestions in the literature that zotepine may have a better effect than other drugs on patients' negative symptoms.