Articles related to SCHIZOPHRENIA

Lumateperone 42 mg/d is effective in the treatment of schizophrenia and has no clinically significant effects on body weight, metabolic variables, motor function, the ECG QT interval, or prolactin levels, with a likelihood to be helped or harmed (LHH) much greater than 1 when comparing therapeutic response to these tolerability/safety outcomes. When comparing therapeutic response versus a somnolence/sedation AE, lumateperone appears to be associated with somnolence/sedation, and LHH approaches 1. In indirect comparisons with other antipsychotics, this somnolence/sedation AE profile is not dissimilar; however, the absence of weight gain, glucose/lipid abnormalities, and akathisia, as well as the absence of prolactin elevations, distinguishes lumateperone.

The development of effective new therapies has been challenging. This discovery of calcium signaling as a central abnormality in schizophrenia neurons is an exciting new finding, since available antipsychotics treat only positive symptoms and are not effective for all patients.

For the treatment of psychosis in schizophrenia, may an oral molecule constitute a new class of psychotropic drug with a non-D2-receptor binding mode of action? The purpose of a recent study was to answer that question, which Dr. Matt Birnholz delves into in this audio abstract.

SEP-363856, a non-D2-receptor binding antipsychotic, reduced the PANSS total score from baseline more than the placebo in this 4-week experiment comprising individuals with acute exacerbations of schizophrenia. Longer and larger trials are required to confirm SEP-363856’s effects and side effects as well as its efficacy in comparison to other medications currently used to treat schizophrenia patients.

According to psychiatrist Russell Margolis, clinical director of the new Johns Hopkins Precision Medicine Center of Excellence for Schizoaffective Disorders, the goal of the center is to create individualized treatment plans for patients, based on the idea that the disorders can be divided into three subtypes: Those who will likely respond favorably to traditional antipsychotics Those who do respond to clozapine but do not respond to traditional antipsychotics Individuals who do not respond to any drugs at all (ultra treatment resistance)

In a study of more than 22,000 patients with schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, or bipolar disorder, 24% also had obsessive-compulsive symptoms; 12% had a diagnosis of OCD. Both co-morbidities were associated with higher rates of aggressive behavior, cognitive problems, and hallucinations or delusions.