Ziprasidone Okayed for Bipolar Disorder

The FDA has cleared ziprasidone (Geodon) for maintenance treatment of bipolar I disorder as an adjunct to lithium or valproate.

It joins several other antipsychotic drugs -- including quetiapine (Seroquel), aripiprazole (Abilify), and olanzapine (Zyprexa) -- approved for this indication.

Ziprasidone is also approved for acute manic and mixed episodes associated with bipolar disorder, with or without psychotic features, and for schizophrenia.

The approval as bipolar maintenance therapy follows a a six-month, double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial in adult patients with bipolar I disorder, according to the drug's manufacturer, Pfizer.

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Antidepressant improves recovery from spine injury

A common antidepressant combined with an intensive treadmill training program helped people with partial spinal cord injuries walk better and faster, U.S. researchers said on Sunday.

They said Forest Laboratories' antidepressant Lexapro or escitalopram, which affects a message-carrying brain chemical called serotonin, helps strengthen remaining nerve connections along the spine, giving patients with spinal cord injuries more ability to control their muscles during training.

"The drug is enhancing the effects of the therapy," said George Hornby, a research scientist at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, who is presenting his findings at the Society for Neuroscience's meeting in Chicago.

"The drug on its own isn't a miracle drug. What you need is the drug plus the training," Hornby said in a telephone interview.

The findings are the first in humans and builds on studies in animals that found giving serotonin-like drugs after spinal cord injuries can promote recovery of walking when paired with an intensive training program.

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Ziprasidone Plus Lithium or Divalproex Is More Effective Than Monotherapy in Bipolar Disorder: Presented at ECNP

Ziprasidone as adjunctive treatment of bipolar disorder yields better efficacy than monotherapy and does not have the side effect of weight gain, according to researchers here at the 22nd European College of Neuropsychopharmacology (ECNP) Congress.

Eduard Vieta, MD, Bipolar Disorders Program, Clinical Institute of Neuroscience, Barcelona, Spain, and colleagues investigated the efficacy of combining ziprasidone with standard mood stabilisers. Because few bipolar patients experience adequate symptom control with long-term lithium or divalproex therapy, the use of adjunctive treatment with atypical antipsychotics is being investigated.

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