Efficacy and tolerability of blonanserin in 48 patients with intractable schizophrenia

Background: Blonanserin is effective for the treatment of schizophrenia in Korea and Japan. Methods: We administered blonanserin to 48 Japanese patients with schizophrenia for whom other atypical antipsychotics were not sufficiently effective or tolerated. Results: Previous antipsychotics were replaced with blonanserin because of its effectiveness (54.2%; 26/48) or tolerability (45.8%; 22/48). Blonanserin was more effective in 65.4% (17/26) of the and better tolerated in 95.5% (21/22) of the patients. Of 48 patients, 33 continued blonanserin for 1 year. The mean Clinical Global Impression of Severity scores improved from 4.60 to 2.48. The mean Global Assessment of Functioning score improved from 29.8 to 51.7. Nineteen patients (39.6%; 19/48) had a social role. The reasons for discontinuation of blonanserin were ineffectiveness against psychosis (27.1%; 13/48) or intolerability (4.2%; 2/48). The ratio of discontinuation for intolerability versus ineffectiveness was 0.15, which was the lowest among atypical psychotics. Conclusions: Blonanserin may be effective and safe for the treatment of intractable schizophrenia.