Clinical uses
Schizophrenia
Clozapine is usually used for people diagnosed with schizophrenia who have had an inadequate response to other antipsychotics or who have been unable to tolerate other drugs due to extrapyramidal side effects. It is also used for the treatment of psychosis in Parkinsons Disease. It is regarded as the gold-standard treatment when other medication has been insufficiently effective and its use is recommended by multiple international treatment guidelines, supported by systematic reviews and meta-analysis. Whilst all current guidelines reserve clozapine to individuals when two other antipsychotics evidence indicates that clozapine might be used as a second line drug. Clozapine treatment has been demonstrated to produced improved outcomes in multiple domains including; a reduced risk of hospitalisation, a reduced risk of drug discontinuation, a reduction in overall symptoms and has improved efficacy in the treatment of positive psychotic symptoms of schizophrenia. Despite a range of side effects patients report good levels of satisfaction and long term adherence is favourable compared to other antipsychotics. Very long term follow-up studies reveal multiple benefits in terms of reduced mortality, with a particularly strong effect for reduced death by suicide, clozapine is the only antipsychotic known to have an effect reducing the risk of suicide or attempted suicide. Clozapine has a significant anti-aggressive effect. Clozapine is widely used in secure and forensic mental health settings where improvements in aggression, shortened admission and reductions in restrictive practice such as seclusion have been found.
Clozapine is a psychiatric medication and is the first atypical antipsychotic (also called second-generation antipsychotic). It is primarily used to treat people with schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorders who have had an inadequate response to other antipsychotics or who have been unable to tolerate other drugs due to extrapyramidal side effects. It is also used for the treatment of psychosis in Parkinsons disease. Clozapine is regarded as the gold-standard treatment when other medication has been insufficiently effective and its use is recommended by multiple international treatment guidelines, after resistance to earlier neuroleptic treatment is established.The role of clozapine in treatment-resistant schizophrenia was established by a 1988 landmark study in which clozapine showed marked benefits compared to chlorpromazine in a group of patients with protracted psychosis who had already shown an inadequate response to other antipsychotics. While there are significant side effects, clozapine remains the most effective treatment when one or more other antipsychotics have had an inadequate response. The use of clozapine is associated with multiple improved outcomes, including a reduced rate of all-cause mortality, suicide and hospitalization. In a 2013 network comparative meta-analysis of 15 antipsychotic drugs, clozapine was found to be significantly more effective than all other drugs. In a 2021 UK study, the majority of patients (over 85% of respondents) who took clozapine preferred it to their previous therapies, felt better on it and wanted to keep taking it.