A study of the therapeutic spectrum of a fixed‐dose of zotepine and its relationship with serum concentrations of the drug

Abstract

The therapeutic spectrum of zotepine, an antipsychotic drug, and its relationship with serum concentrations of the drug were investigated by a fixed-dose study (100mg/day in the first week, and 200mg/day for the next 3 weeks) in 20 schizophrenic in-patients. The mean percentages of symptom reduction in total Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS) and three subgroups were 63.4 per cent for total, 64-4 per cent for positive symptoms, 41.8 per cent for negative symptoms and 74.2 per cent for anxiety-depression respectively. Total, positive and negative symptoms were significantly reduced after 2 weeks (p < 0-OI), while a significant reduction in anxiety-depression symptoms was already found after 1 week (p < 0.01). There were significant differences in the values of percentage improvement in total and positive symptoms after 2 weeks (p < 0.05) and negative symptoms after 1 week (p < 0-05) between responders (more than 50 per cent reduction in total BPRS scores at the end of the study) and nonresponders.In 18 patients (90 per cent), the clinical response at 2 weeks corresponded well to the final outcome. No definite relationship was found between serum zotepine concentrations and the clinical efficacy.

New subscales for an anchored version of the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale: Construction, reliability, and validity in acute psychiatric admissions.

“…Barnas et al, 1992;Hagger et al, 1993;Lemke, 1995;Silverstein, Mavrolefteros, & Close, 1997) or document a more differentiated treatment response (cf. Kondo et al, 1993;Lieberman, 1994). Faustman and Overall (1999) concluded in their call for specific evidence of BPRS-A reliability and validity that the BPRS-A should demonstrate an item factor structure comparable with that of the original rating scale.…”

“…Barnas et al, 1992; Hagger et al, 1993; Lemke, 1995; Silverstein, Mavrolefteros, & Close, 1997) or document a more differentiated treatment response (cf. Kondo et al, 1993; Lieberman, 1994).…”

Norzotepine, a Major Metabolite of Zotepine, Exerts Atypical Antipsychotic-Like and Antidepressant-Like Actions through Its Potent Inhibition of Norepinephrine Reuptake

“…In clinical settings, ZTP has been reported to show not only antipsychotic but also antidepressive and anxiolytic effects in schizophrenia patients (Fleischhacker et al, 1989;Kondo et al, 1993). Furthermore, ZTP is also known to exert a rapid antimanic effect without inducing depression in severe mania patients (Amann et al, 2005).…”