'Next generation' atypical antipsychotic launched

摘要

A new atypical antipsychotic for the treatment of adults with schizophrenia was launched this week.Aripiprazole (Abilify),marketed jointly by Bristol-Myers Squibb and Otsuka Pharmaceuticals,has a different mode of action to antipsychotics available currently.The drug is believed to work as a dopamine system stabiliser,decreasing dopamine activity where dopamine receptors are over-stimulated and increasing dopamine activity where they are under-stimulated.The companies say that this results in efficacy against the positive symptoms of schizophrenia (delusions,hallucinations and hostility),the negative symptoms (lack of motivation and social interaction) and the cognitive symptoms (memory loss and poor attention).In common with other atypical antipsychotics,arip-iprazole is a 5HT_2A antagonist.It is also a partial agonist at the 5HT_1A receptor.