Optimisation of Antipsychotic Drug Use in Older People
Status:
Terminated
Trial end date:
2015-07-01
Target enrollment:
Participant gender:
Summary
Drugs such as amisulpride, known as antipsychotic drugs, are used to treat troublesome and
distressing symptoms in older people. Although these drugs can be beneficial, they are
associated with side effects, particularly in patients with dementia and schizophrenia- like
illness. There is an urgent clinical need to understand why this is the case, to guide
treatment strategies.
This study aims to utilise brain imaging techniques that measure the action of antipsychotic
drugs in the brain to explore the causes of this susceptibility in older people with dementia
and schizophrenia-like illness, and translate these findings into direct patient benefit.
The aim of the study is to investigate and compare the relationship between the action of
amisulpride at brain sites during the first 10 weeks of amisulpride treatment in two patient
groups - Alzheimer's disease and schizophrenia-like illness. Imaging data will be combined
with data on drug dosage, levels of drug in the bloodstream and clinical response (symptom
reduction and motor side effects) during dose titration.Dose-response modelling will be
carried out in both groups to establish the minimum clinically effective dose of amisulpride,
optimum dose range and impact of variability and covariates on exposure-response
relationships