Doctors have completed trials of a schizophrenia drug in pill form that only needs to be taken once a week, rather than daily, and is just as effective and has no additional side effects.
These drugs will simplify the treatment of schizophrenia and increase the independence of patients with this illness without losing the effectiveness of the treatment. Research published in the journal The Lancet Psychiatry.
Schizophrenia medications have previously been suggested to be administered once every two to four weeks, but they must be given as an injection, which makes them less accessible. So the researchers developed a form of the drug risperidone for schizophrenia and bipolar disorder that slowly released the active substance into the body. The effectiveness of such drugs was tested in a phase III clinical trial involving 83 patients with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder.
At the beginning of the trial, patients took regular risperidone at a dosage of two or six milligrams per day for seven days. After that, they were given slow-release tablets with a concentration of risperidone of 15 or 45 milligrams for five weeks. The concentration of the drug and its breakdown products in the blood of patients when taken once a week was the same as when taken daily. The mental state of the participants also remained stable and none of them developed complications of the disease. Doctors hope that the new drugs will help patients better adhere to the regimen, which is especially important for the treatment of mental disorders.
