Latest Antipsychotic Stories

Associated with increased blood pressure and elevated blood sugar levels Researchers have found a genetic variation predisposing children to six-times greater risk of developing metabolic syndrome when taking second-generation anti-psychotic medications. Metabolic syndrome is a cluster of conditions that are risk factors for cardiovascular disease. The study showed a close association with two conditions in particular: high blood pressure and elevated fasting blood sugar levels, which is a...

The impact of efforts by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to notify the general public and health care providers about unanticipated risks from approved medications has been "varied and unpredictable," according to a systematic review of published studies about FDA warnings and alerts over the last 20 years. Although some communication efforts had a strong and immediate effect, many had little or no impact on drug use or health behaviors and several had unintended consequences,...

In a new study from the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH), people with schizophrenia showed greater brain activity during tests that induce a brief, mild form of delusional thinking. This effect wasn't seen in a comparison group without schizophrenia. The study appears in the December issue of Biological Psychiatry. "We studied a type of delusion called a delusion of reference, which occurs when people feel that external stimuli such as newspaper articles or strangers'...

Metabolism management could be key Abraham Kovoor was studying a brain protein, called RGS9 2, that he had previously related to the involuntary, random and repetitive body movements that are side effects of drugs used to treat Parkinson's disease and schizophrenia. While studying these side effects, which are called dyskinesia, Kovoor, an assistant professor in the University of Rhode Island's College of Pharmacy, discovered that RGS9 2 also plays a role in regulating body weight....

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., Dec. 13, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Alexza Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: ALXA) announced today that the Psychopharmacologic Drugs Advisory Committee (PDAC) of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) voted to recommend that ADASUVE(TM) (Staccato® loxapine) be approved for use as a single dose in 24 hours when used with the FDA recommended Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy (REMS), for the treatment for agitation in patients with schizophrenia or bipolar...

HERZELIYA, Israel, November 30, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- MinoGuard develops drugs to treat mental health diseases. MinoGuard's lead drug for the treatment of schizophrenia patients is intended to improve the efficacy of existing treatments and minimize their side effects. MinoGuard has successfully completed a phase 2a clinical trial conducted on about 70 schizophrenics and demonstrated that the use of the drug enhances the positive symptoms of the disease and minimizes the...

Researchers interested in the treatment of schizophrenia and dementia have helped clarify how antipsychotic drugs that target a complex of two receptors at the surface of cells in the brain work. The team has shown that two brain receptors, which bind the neurotransmitter signals serotonin and glutamate at the outside of the cell, form a complex in the areas of the brain that malfunction in schizophrenic patients. The researchers have developed a metric that may help determine the...

According to new research, over one-in-four women take medication to treat a mental health condition. The report by Medco Health Solutions found that women of all ages take more mental health medications than males, with antidepressants being the most commonly used. Anxiety treatments are also widely used by women and at almost twice the rate of men, and the greatest age group who uses these drugs were women between 45 and 65 years of age. The number of women on ADHD drugs was 2.5...

Significant progress has been made in understanding the genetic risk factors underlying psychiatric disease. Recent studies have identified common genetic mutations conferring modest risk and rare variants comprising significant risk. One example of a rare cause of psychiatric disorders is the Disrupted in Schizophrenia-1 (DISC1) gene, first identified in a large Scottish pedigree displaying schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and depression. Common variants in DISC1 have been associated with...

FRANKLIN LAKES, N.J., Nov. 16, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- What could be a sign of America's psychological state of mind, a new report shows more than one-in-five adult Americans took at least one medication commonly used to treat a psychiatric or behavioral disorder in 2010. Women's use was even higher, with one-in-four on a mental health-related drug last year. That's according to "America's State of Mind," a Medco Health Solutions, Inc. (NYSE: MHS) analysis of trends in mental health...