The Impact of Quetiapine on the Drug Abuse Patterns of Addicted Schizophrenic Patients

• Status: Completed
• Trial end date: 1969-12-31
• Target enrollment: 0
• Participant gender: All

Summary

The lifetime of substance use disorders in schizophrenia is close to 50%. Substance abuse in schizophrenia is associated with negative consequences. Unfortunately, there no clear guidelines for the pharmacological treatment of this dual diagnosis population. Preliminary results suggest that second-generation antipsychotic drugs (mainly clozapine) may relieve drug cravings in schizophrenia. We performed a 12-week pilot study to evaluate the impact of quetiapine, a second-generation antipsychotic, on substance abuse parameters, psychiatric symptoms and side effects in patients schizophrenia and comorbid substance use disorders. Our expectation was a 20 % decrease in drug cravings from baseline to end-point.

• Phase: Phase 4

Details

• Lead Sponsor: Université de Montréal
• Collaborator: AstraZeneca
• Treatments: Quetiapine Fumarate

Criteria

Inclusion Criteria:

• Patients with as schizophrenia spectrum disorder

• Patients with a comorbid substance use disorder

Exclusion Criteria:

• Patients already on quetiapine or clozapine

• Patients hospitalized or acutely ill

• Total score lower than 65 on the PANSS

• Pregnancy

• Female subjects of childbearing potential without adequate contraception

• Abnormal liver function (hepatic enzymes more than 3 times the upper normal limits)

• Any clinically meaningful unstable renal, hepatic, cardiovascular, respiratory, cerebrovascular disease or other serious, progressive physical disease.