New antipsychotic agents are much awaited

doi:10.1136/bmj.332.7556.1511

BMJ 2006;332:1511 (24 June), doi:10.1136/bmj.332.7556.1511

Letter

New antipsychotic agents are much awaited

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

EDITOR—I agree with Ganguli and Strassnig that truly novelantipsychotic agents are needed.¹ They talk about older antipsychoticsnot becoming obsolete in clinical practice, while the amountof research that is conducted solely into their efficacy isslim. We remain in the dark when it comes to comparing typicalantipsychotics, individualising them to the needs of a patient.The evidence base is anecdotal. They are effective in clinicalpractice; every psychiatrist has a cohort of patients stabilisedon them, followed up regularly and maintained similarly lestthey should decompensate. However, the pharmaceutical industrypours funds into development of newer compounds or newer licencesfor existing "novel" antipsychotics, and the older ones fadeinto the background, serving mainly as adjuvant to the controlof behavioural symptoms on the inpatient unit.

Safer avenues of antipsychotic prescription need to be explored,given that the metabolic syndrome, glucose metabolism abnormalities,and accelerated . . . [Full text of this article]

Arnob Chakraborti, senior house officer

Dorothy Pattison Hospital, Walsall Primary Care Trust, Walsall WS2 9XH ac97dmc@googlemail.com