Older schizo meds as good

Created: Monday, November 27, 2006 Print Support for the old instead of the new is prompting a debate in the United Kingdom over what type of drug is best for treating schizophrenia.

BBC News reports that researchers from the University of Manchester found that patients with the psychiatric disease respond just as well - and perhaps better - to older drugs than the newer ones. The findings are published in the British Archives of General Psychiatry.

One of the motivations in doing the research, the BBC reports, is that the newer drugs known as antipsychotics, such as risperidone, quetiapine, clozapine and olanzapine, cost more than 10 times the older drugs. Yet, in examining 227 patients with schizophrenia, the Manchester researchers found little or no difference in the effectiveness of the new drugs as opposed to older, less expensive ones.

Schizophrenia's symptoms are often severe, including hearing voices, shifting personalities, paranoia and violence.

The study was financed by the United Kingdom's National Health Service. The findings haven't been directly challenged, but BBC News quotes Marjorie Wallace of the mental health charity SANE as saying that those suffering from mental illness shouldn't be denied access to the newer drugs just because they cost more. – (HealthDayNews)

Read more:
Understanding schizophrenia
A-Z of Schizophrenia

November 2006

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