Remoxipride in schizophrenia: effects on plasma prolactin.

Twenty hospitalized schizophrenic patients were treated for six weeks with remoxipride. All patients completed the clinical trial. Ten patients showed marked improvement in schizophrenic symptoms, and all patients showed a statistically significant (p less than .05) reduction in the mean score for CGI severity of illness and BPRS total score. Remoxipride was found to cause less parkinsonism than the prior neuroleptic therapy and appeared to have little masking effect on tardive dyskinesia. The absence of steady state plasma prolactin elevations differentiates remoxipride from classical neuroleptics while the peak increase of plasma prolactin concentrations 1 hour after drug intake confirms that remoxipride has some effect in the pituitary system. Results from this study underline the importance of D2 receptor blockade in achieving an antischizophrenic effect.