Two Pilot Studies of AHR-1680 in Chronic Schizophrenic Patients

¹ New Jersey Bureau of Research in Neurology and Psychiatry, Princeton, N.J.; Research Center, Rockland State Hospital, Orangeburg, N.Y.

Two pilot studies of AHR-1680, an oxazolidinone derivative, were performed in groups of male chronic schizophrenic patients in two different research units. Doses of up to 300 mg daily were given in both studies, with a total period of drug administration of 11 weeks in study I and 12 weeks in study II after a four-week nodrug baseline period. Although no improvement was seen in either study, the patients in study I showed more worsening, with some degree of clinical worsening being noted in all except two patients, and increased psychosis appearing to a statistically significant degree on several dimensions of the BPRS (emotional withdrawal, conceptual disorganization, mannerisms and posturing, hallucinatory behavior, uncooperativeness, and disorientation); worsening of social competence and total patient assets were also noted on the NOSIE. In study II, similar increase in psychotic symptomatology appeared as increases in conceptual disorganization (BPRS) at six weeks and unusual thought content (BPRS) at 12 weeks, with worsening on personal neatness and total patient assets (NOSIE).

The most prominent side effect was insomnia. The worsening of psychosis together with insomnia suggested that the drug has stimulating properties at variance with predictions from results of animal pharmacological tests. The present studies did not demonstrate any usefulness for AHR-1680 in severely ill chronic schizophrenic patients.

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