Recent advances in the pharmacotherapy of schizophrenia

The limitations of standard antipsychotics have spurred a search for novel agents that are effective against both positive and negative symptoms of schizophrenia but do not produce the extrapyramidal side effects frequently associated with the older medications. Such agents might more effectively prevent relapse, because of enhanced efficacy for the full spectrum of schizophrenic symptoms and improved tolerability--and hence greater medication compliance. Findings concerning the new antipsychotics currently available, clozapine and risperidone, are reviewed, and clozapine's usefulness as a first-line treatment is evaluated. Although serious side effects and the need for weekly blood monitoring may limit clozapine's use as a first-line treatment, risperidone appears promising in this role. Preclinical and clinical studies of new antipsychotic medications recently submitted for approval (olanzapine and sertindole) or in phase III development (quetiapine and ziprasidone) are also reviewed. The findings are encouraging, and researchers hope that some of these new agents may prove valuable as first-line treatments for schizophrenia. Pharmacoeconomic studies comparing clozapine and risperidone to the standard neuroleptics indicate that these newer drugs appear likely to lower the overall cost of treatment for schizophrenia, primarily by reducing rates of relapse and rehospitalization.