Drug treats depression in psychotic patients
Depressive symptoms are common in patients with psychotic disorders and are associated with poor outcomes, increased risk of relapse, and high suicide rates. The atypical antipsychotic quetiapine fumarate appears to be effective in treating depressive symptoms in people with schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders, according to a study presented at the American Psychiatric Association annual meeting in Chicago.
"Depressive symptoms can interfere with people’s ability to socialize, work, and function on a day-to-day basis," says study author Martha Sajatovic, MD, assistant professor of psychiatry at Case Western Reserve School of Medicine in Cleveland. "Our research shows that quetiapine fumarate can actually help people who suffer from schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders with their depressive symptoms, which I believe could help them participate more fully in society."
The study was a four-month, open-label trial involving 751 adults with psychoses. Patients were randomized to receive quetiapine fumarate or risperidone and assessed using the Hamilton Depression Scale (HAM-D), which evaluates the severity of 17 depressive symptoms reported during patient interviews. Both quetiapine fumarate and risperidone produced improvements in HAM-D scores. Quetiapine fumarate produced a statistically significant improvement of 44.6%, compared with 34.4% for risperidone, says Sajatovic. In addition, quetiapine fumarate produced a statistically greater effect in patients who scored high on the initial HAM-D test.
Quetiapine fumarate is manufactured under the brand name Seroquel by AstraZeneca with U.S. headquarters in Wilmington, DE.
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