CATIE and Typical Antipsychotics

Introduction Atypical antipsychotics have largely replaced typical antipsychotics in clinical practice due to their perceived superiority in efficacy and lower risk of neurological adverse effects, which is believed to result in improved compliance. In fact, many treatment algorithms recommend the use of atypical antipsychotics as the only first-line medication treatment option. However, the Clinical Antipsychotic Trials of Intervention Effectiveness (CATIE) has cast doubts over the superiority of atypical antipsychotics over the older, less expensive typical antipsychotics. More recently, an independent British study of similar design has also had similar findings to that of CATIE. This bulletin will review the results of CATIE and revisit the use of oral typical antipsychotics in clinical practice.