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Research and Clinical Trials on Quetiapine (Seroquel)

By CounsellingResource Research Staff

This list of current clinical research trials on Quetiapine (Seroquel) is followed by a short set of abstracts from the most recent research articles published on the drug.

Article Contents

Quetiapine (Seroquel) Clinical Research Trials

From our searchable database at ClinicalTrialsFeeds.org, this list includes all the latest information about clinical trials involving Quetiapine (Seroquel).

 

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Current Research Literature on Quetiapine (Seroquel)

Here are abstracts for some of the latest research articles to have appeared on Quetiapine (Seroquel):

Antidepressant treatment for acute bipolar depression: an update.

Depress Res Treat. 2012; 2012: 684725
Amit BH, Weizman A
While studies in the past have focused more on treatment of the manic phase of bipolar disorder (BD), recent findings demonstrate the depressive phase to be at least as debilitating. However, in contrast to unipolar depression, depression in bipolar patients exhibits a varying response to antidepressants, raising questions regarding their efficacy and tolerability. Methods. We conducted a MEDLINE and Cochrane Collaboration Library search for papers published between 2005 and 2011 on the subject of antidepressant treatment of bipolar depression. Sixty-eight articles were included in the present review. Results. While a few studies did advocate the use of antidepressants, most well-controlled studies failed to show a robust effect of antidepressants in bipolar depression, regardless of antidepressant class or bipolar subtype. There was no significant increase in the rate of manic/hypomanic switch, especially with concurrent use of mood stabilizers. Prescribing guidelines published in recent years rely more on atypical antipsychotics, especially quetiapine, as a first-line therapy. Conclusions. Antidepressants probably have no substantial role in acute bipolar depression. However, in light of conflicting results between studies, more well-designed trials are warranted.

Assessment of prescribers' knowledge of the cost of medications.

Ann Pharmacother. 2012 Feb; 46(2): 200-7
Cogdill B, Nappi JM
In 2003, the World Health Organization reported that 50% of patients are adherent to long-term therapies. Frequently, the reason for a patient's nonadherence is the cost of medications. Even with prescription insurance coverage, patients may not be able to afford their medications.To assess prescriber knowledge of the cost of commonly prescribed medications including atorvastatin, gabapentin, levofloxacin, losartan, pantoprazole, pioglitazone, and quetiapine. SecondaryOne hundred prescribers from the Medical University of South Carolina were surveyed from November 2010 to January 2011. Prescribers consisted of medical residents, attending physicians, fellows, nurse practitioners, and physician assistants. Wholesale prices of medications were determined using the Red Book, and prescription insurance prices were calculated from an average of the top 3 prescription insurance companies' copayments.Medical residents made up 72% of those surveyed, fellows 3%, attending physicians 12%, physician assistants 3%, and nurse practitioners 10%. The prescriber groups were unable to correctly determine the cost of medications of more than 50% of total possible responses. The majority of prescribers rarely asked about a patient's prescription insurance coverage or consulted a discounted drug list before writing a prescription.Prescribers are more likely to know the cost of medications for patients who have prescription insurance coverage versus those who do not.

Psychotropic drug-induced weight gain and other metabolic complications in a Swiss psychiatric population.

J Psychiatr Res. 2012 Feb 6;
Choong E, Bondolfi G, Etter M, Jermann F, Aubry JM, Bartolomei J, Gholam-Rezaee M, Eap CB
PURPOSE: To describe the weight gain-related side-effects of psychotropic drugs and their consequences on metabolic complications (hypercholesterolemia, obesity) in a Swiss cohort of psychiatric patients. METHOD: This cross-sectional observational study was performed in an out-patient psychiatric division with patients having received for more than 3 months the following drugs: clozapine, olanzapine, quetiapine, risperidone, lithium, and/or valproate. Clinical measures and lifestyle information (smoking behaviour, physical activity) were recorded. RESULTS: 196 inclusions were completed. Weight gain (≥10% of initial weight) following drug treatment was reported in 47% of these patients. Prevalence of obesity (BMI ≥ 30), hypercholesterolemia (≥6.2 mmol/L) and low HDL-cholesterol ( lithium or valproate), and the gender were shown to be significantly associated with evolution of BMI. CONCLUSION: High prevalence of obesity and hypercholesterolemia was found in an out-patient psychiatric population and confirms drug-induced weight gain complications during long-term treatment. The results support the recently published recommendations of monitoring of metabolic side-effects during treatment with atypical antipsychotics. Moreover, the weight gain predictors found in the present study could help to highlight patients with special health care management requirement.

Treatment response trajectories and antipsychotic medications: Examination of up to18months of treatment in the CATIE chronic schizophrenia trial.

Schizophr Res. 2012 Feb 6;
Levine SZ, Rabinowitz J, Faries D, Lawson AH, Ascher-Svanum H
BACKGROUND: Trajectory studies highlight heterogeneity in treatment response, although they are yet to systematically differentiate between antipsychotic medications. AIMS: To compare treatment response trajectories across antipsychotic medication groups. METHOD: Data were analyzed from Phase 1 of CATIE, an 18-month double-blind randomized controlled trial of chronic schizophrenia. Change on recurrent Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) administrations for 1124 patients was used to index treatment response trajectories up to 18months. Trajectory groups were identified with mixed-mode latent class regression modeling. Groups were derived for all participants, and separately for completers, dropouts, and each antipsychotic medication (olanzapine, perphenazine, quetiapine, risperidone, ziprasidone) and then characterized. RESULTS: Trajectory analysis of the entire sample identified that 18.9% of participants belonged to a group of responders. This figure increased to 31.5% for completers, and fell to 14.5% for dropouts. Olanzapine treated patients were significantly more likely than other treatment groups to belong to the trajectory of responders (n=69, 32.55%; Chi=20.13, df=2, p

Risk of Falls and Fractures in Older Adults Using Atypical Antipsychotic Agents: A Propensity Score-Adjusted, Retrospective Cohort Study.

Am J Geriatr Pharmacother. 2012 Feb 2;
Chatterjee S, Chen H, Johnson ML, Aparasu RR
BACKGROUND: Atypical antipsychotic agents are extensively prescribed in the elderly to treat various behavioral and psychiatric disorders. Past literature has documented an increased risk of falls and factures with the use of risperidone and olanzapine compared with nonuse. However, none of the studies assessed the comparative safety profiles of atypical agents with respect to falls and fractures. OBJECTIVE: The goal of this study was to evaluate the risk of falls and fractures associated with the use of risperidone, olanzapine, and quetiapine in community-dwelling adults aged ≥50 years. METHODS: The study involved a propensity score-adjusted approach in new users of risperidone, olanzapine, or quetiapine anytime between July 1, 2000, and June 30, 2008, using data from the IMS LifeLink Health Plan Claims database. Patients were followed up until a hospitalization/emergency department visit for fall/fracture or the end of the study period, whichever occurred earlier. The Cox proportional hazards regression model was used to evaluate the comparative risk of falls/fractures. The covariates in the final model included propensity scores and their interaction terms. RESULTS: There were 12,145 new users of atypical agents in the study population (5083 risperidone, 4377 olanzapine, and 2685 quetiapine). A total of 417 cases of falls/fractures with at least 1 hospitalization/ emergency department visit after the use of the antipsychotic agents were identified. The number of falls for risperidone, olanzapine, and quetiapine were 179 (3.56%), 123 (2.84%), and 115 (4.34%), respectively. After adjusting for propensity scores, the Cox proportional hazards model showed that there was no statistically significant difference with use of risperidone (hazard ratio = 1.10 [95% CI, 0.86-1.39]) or quetiapine (hazard ratio = 1.12 [95% CI, 0.86-1.46]) compared with olanzapine (reference group) in the risk of falls or fractures. CONCLUSIONS: The study found no significant difference across the individual atypical agents in the risk of falls/fractures in community-dwelling older adults. Future studies are required to evaluate the overall safety profiles of the antipsychotic agents in this population.