An open clinical trial of fenfluramine in chronic schizophrenia: a pilot study.
The reports of hyperserotonaemia in chronic schizophrenics and the indications that fenfluramine, a serotonin-releasing drug, may be of therapeutic value in hyperserotonaemic autistic children, were the rationale for this clinical trial. Fenfluramine was administered to 4 treatment-resistant chronic schizophrenic in-patients. They were studied for 14 weeks: 2 baseline weeks, 8 on fenfluramine (maximal dose 120 mg/day for 4 weeks) and 4 post-fenfluramine. Plasma levels of fenfluramine and nor-fenfluramine indicated good compliance. Platelet serotonin concentration decreased in all 4 subjects, weight loss was noted in 2. Clinical changes (assessed by rating psychiatric symptoms and ward behaviour) were observed in 3: moderate sustained improvement in 1, a short-lived activation followed by a slight improvement in another, and a brief amelioration with subsequent worsening in the third. The time and pattern of these changes suggest that they were due to fenfluramine.
D000328:Adult; D014150:Antipsychotic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D002908:Chronic Disease; D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic; D004359:Drug Therapy, Combination; D005260:Female; D005277:Fenfluramine / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010865:Pilot Projects; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000188:drug therapy*; D012565:Schizophrenic Psychology
D014150:Antipsychotic Agents; D005277:Fenfluramine