Lumateperone Found to Be Effective in Treating Bipolar Depression

Patients with bipolar disorder who are experiencing a major depressive episode may benefit from taking the antipsychotic lumateperone, suggests astudy inAJP in Advance. The phase 3 trial, which was funded by Intra-Cellular Therapies (maker of lumateperone), revealed that adults taking lumateperone daily reported significantly greater improvements in their depressive symptoms and overall functioning after six weeks than those taking placebo. Lumateperone was also well tolerated, and participants experienced minimal changes in weight or other metabolic parameters.“Approved antipsychotics for bipolar depression are associated with a range of undesirable side effects, including cardiometabolic disturbances, motor impairments, and hyperprolactinemia,” wrote Joseph R. Calabrese, M.D., of Case Western Reserve School of Medicine and colleagues. “Thus, a new treatment option that is effective for depressive episodes in both bipolar I and bipolar II disorders and has a more benign and favorable safety profile could improve patient outcomes, with lower morbidity and a higher quality of life.” The authors added that effective medications for treating dep ressive episodes associated with bipolar II disorder are particularly needed, as only quetiapine is approved as a monotherapy for treating these symptoms.In this multinational trial, the investigators randomized 381 adults with bipolar I or II disorder who were experiencing a major depressive episode to receive 42 mg lumateperone...
Source: Psychiatr News - Category: Psychiatry Tags: ajp in advance antipsychotics Bipolar I bipolar II depression lumateperone MADRS Montgomery- Åsberg Depression Rating Scale response Source Type: research