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Psychiatric drug could have saved thousands
Source: Agencies |
July 14, 2009, Tuesday
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THOUSANDS of people with schizophrenia worldwide could have been saved if doctors had prescribed them the anti-psychotic drug clozapine, a new study says.
Clozapine was introduced in the 1970s but was banned for about a decade because of a rare but potentially deadly side effect: up to 2 percent of patients lose their white blood cells while taking the drug.
It was brought back to the market in the 1980s with warnings about its use.
Clozapine is usually only recommended as a last resort, if patients haven't responded to two other drugs.
In a study examining the death rates of about 67,000 schizophrenic patients in Finland versus those of the general population between 1996 and 2006, Jari Tiihonen, of the University of Kuopio in Finland, and colleagues found that patients on clozapine had the lowest risk of dying, compared to other patients with schizophrenia. The study was published online yesterday in the Lancet medical journal.
The researchers concluded that newer drugs including quetiapine, haloperidol and risperidone increased the death risk by 41 percent, 37 percent and 34 percent respectively, when compared to older drugs. Patients on clozapine had a 26-percent lower chance of dying.
Experts said the Finnish findings could be extrapolated to most other developed countries.
British psychiatrist James MacCabe said clozapine is particularly effective in reducing suicidal tendencies in schizophrenic patients, in whom suicides account for about 40 percent of unexpected deaths.
Clozapine was introduced in the 1970s but was banned for about a decade because of a rare but potentially deadly side effect: up to 2 percent of patients lose their white blood cells while taking the drug.
It was brought back to the market in the 1980s with warnings about its use.
Clozapine is usually only recommended as a last resort, if patients haven't responded to two other drugs.
In a study examining the death rates of about 67,000 schizophrenic patients in Finland versus those of the general population between 1996 and 2006, Jari Tiihonen, of the University of Kuopio in Finland, and colleagues found that patients on clozapine had the lowest risk of dying, compared to other patients with schizophrenia. The study was published online yesterday in the Lancet medical journal.
The researchers concluded that newer drugs including quetiapine, haloperidol and risperidone increased the death risk by 41 percent, 37 percent and 34 percent respectively, when compared to older drugs. Patients on clozapine had a 26-percent lower chance of dying.
Experts said the Finnish findings could be extrapolated to most other developed countries.
British psychiatrist James MacCabe said clozapine is particularly effective in reducing suicidal tendencies in schizophrenic patients, in whom suicides account for about 40 percent of unexpected deaths.
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