Section Review—Central & Peripheral Nervous Systems: Pre-Clinical Pharmacology of New Atypical Antipsychotics in Late Stage Development

Abstract

The high incidence of motor-disturbing side-effects associated with ‘typical’ neuroleptic medication has led to the search for safer, ‘atypical’ antipsychotics. Clozapine, the most noted atypical antipsy-chotic, has proven efficacy in the treatment of schizophrenia, and induces fewer motor disturbances. Nevertheless, clozapine is associated with other, severe side-effects. Hence, new atypical antipsychotics, retaining the efficacy and profile of clozapine but without the concomitant adverse reactions, are needed. This article reviews new atypical antipsychotics, focusing especially upon those in late stage development, including SEROQUEL (ZENECA Pharmaceuticals), olanzapine (Eli Lilly), ORG 5222 (Organon), risperidone (Janssen Pharmaceutica), sertindole (Lundbeck), and ziprasidone (Pfizer).