Questioning Drug Costs In Schizophrenia Treatment

From the December 1, 2006 issue of Psychiatric News:

The controversy over whether the high costs of second-generation antipsychotics (SGAs) are associated with significant benefits that justify prescribing them rather than cheaper first-generation antipsychotics (FGAs) is the subject of the cost-effectiveness analysis from the National Institute of Mental Health-sponsored CATIE (Clinical Antipsychotic Trials of Intervention Effectiveness) study, reported in the December American Journal of Psychiatry (AJP).

However, the usefulness of the report is challenged by an accompanying editorial, signed by AJP Editor in Chief Robert Freedman, M.D., and cosigned by schizophrenia and antipsychotic medication experts William Carpenter Jr., M.D., and John Davis, M.D.; and Howard Goldman, M.D., Ph.D. (an AJP associate editor), Carol Tamminga, M.D. (an AJP deputy editor), and Marshall Thomas, M.D.

Drugs studied:

• Perphenazine
• Olanzapine
• Quetiapine
• Risperidone
• Ziprasidone