New type of Drug for Schizophrenia

Current anti-schizophrenia drugs all work the same way, by reducing levels of the neurotransmitter dopamine in the brain. But they do not control the disease well in all patients and often have unpleasant side effects. The new drug, LY2140023, is converted in the body into a second compound, called LY404023, which acts by damping down the activity of a different neurotransmitter, glutamate.

From an article in Nature News. In a trial with 196 schizophrenic patients treatments were either LY2140023, olanzapine, or a placebo for four weeks. The drugs were roughly equally effective.

The side effects of LY2140023 are insomnia and emotional instability but the new drug did not cause weight gain.

The drug will have a long way of research to go before it possibly can be used.

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