The Journal of clinical psychiatry
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Review Comparative Study
Past and present progress in the pharmacologic treatment of schizophrenia.
Despite treatment advances over the past decades, schizophrenia remains one of the most severe psychiatric disorders that is associated with a chronic relapsing course and marked functional impairment in a substantial proportion of patients. In this article, a historical overview of the pharmacologic advances in the treatment of schizophrenia over the past 50 years is presented. This is followed by a review of the current developments in optimizing the treatment and outcomes in patients with schizophrenia. ⋯ Acute and long-term goals and effects of medication treatment should be balanced. To date, clozapine is the only evidence-based treatment for refractory patients, and the role of antipsychotic polypharmacy and other augmentation strategies remains unclear, at best. To discover novel treatments with enhanced/broader efficacy and improved tolerability, and to enable personalized treatment, the mechanisms underlying illness development and progression, symptomatic improvement, and side effect development need to be elucidated.
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This article discusses changes in psychiatric drug development from a US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) standpoint. It first looks back at changes that have been influenced by regulatory process and then looks forward at FDA initiatives that are likely to affect psychiatric drug development in the future. FDA protects the public health by ensuring the safety and efficacy of drug products introduced into the US market. ⋯ This article addresses 2 general areas of innovation at FDA that will affect psychiatric drug development in years to come. Several programs falling under the general heading of the Critical Path Initiative, ie, biomarkers, adaptive design, end-of-phase 2A meetings, and data standards, are described. In addition, a number of important safety initiatives, including Safety First, the Sentinel Initiative, the Safe Use Initiative, and meta-analysis for safety, are discussed.