Doubt Cast Over Antipsychotic Polypharmacy for Refractory Schizophrenia

03 Feb 2006

The addition of risperidone to clozapine does not improve symptoms in patients with severe schizophrenia over the short term, study findings show.

“If antipsychotic polypharmacy is of value, treatment with combinations of drugs with complementary receptor-binding properties might have the highest likelihood of success,” note William Honer (University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada) and colleagues.

“Clozapine does not saturate dopamine D2 receptors, even when given at high doses, whereas risperidone occupies a high proportion of dopamine D2 receptors when given at clinically used doses.”

The researchers therefore assessed the combined efficacy of these two drugs for the treatment of 68 patients with schizophrenia who had a poor response to clozapine alone.

The participants continued to take clozapine and were randomly assigned to receive daily augmentation with 3 mg of risperidone or with placebo for 8 weeks.

Both groups of patients showed an improvement in their symptoms over the course of the trial, with no significant difference seen between the two.

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    Last reviewed: By John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on 6 Feb 2006
    Published on PsychCentral.com. All rights reserved.