Classic chlorpromazine (CPZ) equivalents can be used to chart relative antipsychotic potencies of antipsychotic drugs. Values of CPZ equivalents per drug are ambiguous in literature. In drug use evaluation studies, antipsychotic doses are frequently compared by use of the defined daily dose (DDD). The DDD is the assumed average maintenance dose per day for a drug if used for its main indication...

Introduction: Hyperprolactinemia is a common serious side effect of antipsychotic medications that are currently used in the treatment of patients with schizophrenia. Pharmacogenetic approaches offer the possibility of identifying patient-specific biomarkers for predicting the risk of this side effect. We investigated a possible relationship between variants (SNPs) in genes for cytochrome 2D6 (...

BACKGROUND Although many studies have reported that glucose and lipid metabolism disorders are a significant side effect associated with the use of antipsychotic drugs, the characteristics of glucose and lipid metabolism disorders in patients with schizophrenia who are taking antipsychotic drugs remain poorly understood, and the possible effects that antipsychotic discontinuation may have on gl...

Antipsychotic drugs are the mainstay pharmacotherapy for schizophrenia and related psychiatric disorders. While the metabolic pathways of antipsychotic drugs have been well defined, the role of drug transporters in the disposition and effects of antipsychotic drugs has not been systematically explored. P-glycoprotein has ubiquitous expression in brain endothelial cells and plays a protective ro...

Patients with schizophrenia often have anxiety and depression, and thus are treated with multiple psychotherapeutic medications. This practice of polypharmacy increases the possibility for drug-drug interactions. However, the pharmacological and behavioral mechanisms underlying drug-drug interactions in schizophrenia remain poorly understood. In the present study, we adopted a preclinical appro...

this approach, we have recently identified the histamine HI-receptor as a likely proximal molecular target for atypical antipsychtoic drug-induced weight gain (Kroeze et al, Neuropsychopharmacol, in press) and are currently using datamining technologies to discover sites responsible for other actions of atypical antipsychotic drugs. We have also recently discovered that the kappa opioid recepto...

Antipsychotic drugs are particularly interesting in pharmacogenetic studies as they are associated with a large interindividual variability in terms of response and side effects and, therefore, frequently need to be discontinued, requiring switches to other antipsychotics. Any information that allows the prediction of outcome to a given antipsychotic in a particular patient will, therefore, be ...

BACKGROUND Three warnings of serious adverse events associated with the use of atypical antipsychotic drugs among elderly patients with dementia were sent to health care professionals in Canada. We assessed the impact of these warnings on prescription rates of antipsychotic drugs in this patient population. METHODS We used prescription drug claims data from Ontario to calculate prescription r...