Monday, September 27, 2010

Quetiapine

Quetiapine is indicated for the treatment of schizophrenia, depressive episodes associated with bipolar disorder, acute manic episodes associated with bipolar I disorder (as either monotherapy or adjunct therapy to lithium or valproate), and maintenance treatment of bipolar I disorder (as adjunct therapy to lithium or divalproex). Quetiapine received its initial indication from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for treatment of schizophrenia in 1997.[5] In 2004, it received its second indication for the treatment of mania-associated bipolar disorder.[6] It is sometimes used off-label, often as an augmentation agent, to treat conditions such as obsessive-compulsive disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, restless legs syndrome, autism, alcoholism, depression,[7] Tourette syndrome,[8] and has been used by physicians as a sedative for those with sleep disorders or anxiety disorders.[9]

In 2005, the National Institute of Mental Health examined quetiapine and other antipsychotics to uncover the comparative efficacy of "second generation" anti-psychotics against older anti-psychotics (known as "first generation" or "typical anti-psychotics"). Such information could be important to the patients, as the newer drugs are far more expensive than their older counterparts. Published in the New England Journal of Medicine, the results of the CATIE ("clinical antipsychotic trials of interventional effectiveness") trial were somewhat mixed. 74% of trial participants (of the 1,493 people who were in different treatment groups) discontinued before the trial ended. The majority of the participants discontinued treatment due to intolerable side effects or lack of efficacy. Olanzapine (Zyprexa) was considered the most effective in terms of the time it took patients to drop out of the study, although it was associated with greater weight gain and glucose intolerability found in diabetes patients. The effects of all other treatments (such as Seroquel) were considered to be similar to the effects of the generic (and dramatically less expensive) drug, perphenazine.[10] The CATIE trial was supported by a grant (N01 MH90001) from the NIMH and by the Foundation of Hope of Raleigh, N.C. The individual pharmaceutical companies, whose drugs were used, donated all of the study medication.

A report in British Medical Journal in 2005 showed that quetiapine was ineffective in reducing agitation among Alzheimer's patients, whose usage of the drug constituted 29% of sales. In fact, quetiapine was found to worsen cognitive functioning in elderly patients with dementia.[11]

Use of quetiapine to minimize the symptoms of opioid withdrawal has been studied.[12]

Quetiapine, Wikipedia BlogBooster-The most productive way for mobile blogging. BlogBooster is a multi-service blog editor for iPhone, Android, WebOs and your desktop

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