Pharma & Device Update
FDA approves medication to treat bipolar disorder and schizophrenia
Reuters (9/18, Nathan) reports that the Food and Drug Administration approved Allergan Plc’s new antipsychotic drug, Vraylar (cariprazine), to treat patients with bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. The drug has a boxed warning of increased risk of death in older patients who have dementia-related psychosis. #PuriPediatricMedicalGroup #pediatrician #kids #healthy #California #Fremont
MedPage Today (9/18, Fiore) reports that the drug “is a partial agonist of the dopamine D3 and D2 and serotonin 5-HT1A receptors,” is “an antagonist of the serotonin 5-HT2B and 5-HT2A receptors, and it also binds to histamine H1 receptors.”
Medscape (9/18, Cassels) reports that the most common side effects reported by patients with schizophrenia were “extrapyramidal symptoms, such as tremor, slurred speech, and involuntary muscle movements.” The most common side effects for patients with bipolar disorder were “extrapyramidal symptoms, akathisia, dyspepsia, vomiting, somnolence, and restlessness.”f