Aripiprazole is a novel atypical antipsychotic for the treatment of schizophrenia. It is a D2 receptor partial agonist with partial agonist activity at 5-HT1A receptors and antagonist activity at 5-HT2A receptors. The long-term efficacy and safety of aripiprazole (30 mg/d) relative to haloperidol (10 mg/d) were investigated in two 52-wk, randomized, double-blind, multicentre studies (using similar protocols which were prospectively identified to be pooled for analysis) in 1294 patients in acute relapse with a diagnosis of chronic schizophrenia and who had previously responded to antipsychotic medications. Aripiprazole demonstrated long-term efficacy that was comparable or superior to haloperidol across all symptoms measures, including significantly greater improvements for PANSS negative subscale scores and MADRS total score (p<0.05). The time to discontinuation for any reason was significantly greater with aripiprazole than with haloperidol (p=0.0001). Time to discontinuation due to adverse events or lack of efficacy was significantly greater with aripiprazole than with haloperidol (p=0.0001). Aripiprazole was associated with significantly lower scores on all extrapyramidal symptoms assessments than haloperidol (p<0.001). In summary, aripiprazole demonstrated efficacy equivalent or superior to haloperidol with associated benefits for safety and tolerability. Aripiprazole represents a promising new option for the long-term treatment of schizophrenia.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.