Seroquel Study Results for Treating Mania and Depression in Bipolar Disorder Types I and II
AstraZeneca manufactures the drug Seroquel (quetiapine fumarate) and announced results of a 509 patient study at last week’s American Psychiatric Association meeting.
Seroquel is currently FDA approved for treating bipolar disorder I acute mania and schizophrenia. The announced study results looked at Seroquel to treat depression in bipolar types I and II patients, to confirm results of a prior study.
Seroquel is being positioned as treatment to both stabilize mood and relieve depression, to eliminate the need to use a mood stabilizing drug and an antidepressant. Having one less pill to take may help patients with bipolar disorder adhere to (stick to) their drug therapy.
Late last year, the company submitted a supplemental supplemental New Drug Application (sNDA) with the FDA for Seroquel in treating depression in bipolar disorder patients.
What I found interesting is the high response rate of the placebo (sugar pill) arms. At the end of the 2 month study (8 weeks):
60% of patients who took Seroquel at 300 mg/day responded
58% of patients who took Seroquel at 600 mg/day responded
45% of patients who took placebo responded.
It looks like a higher dose didn’t give a higher response rate, although higher doses of drug usually comes with higher percentage of side effects.
Caution: Seroquel should not be used in patients with dementia-related psychosis (usually elderly patients), and has also been associated with changes in body metabolism including hyperglycemia and ketoacidosis.
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