Minocycline for the Treatment of Early-Phase Schizophrenia

Summary

Current antipsychotics have only a limited effect on two core symptoms of schizophrenia, negative symptoms and cognitive deficits. Minocycline is a second-generation tetracycline which has a beneficial effect in various neurological disorders. Recent findings in animal models and human case-reports suggest its potential for the treatment of these symptoms of schizophrenia. The current study aims to examine the efficacy of minocycline as add-on treatment for alleviating negative and cognitive symptoms in early-phase schizophrenia. The study will utilize a longitudinal double blind, randomized, placebo-controlled design with patients followed for six-months. Early-phase schizophrenia patients were recruited and randomly allocated to a minocycline or placebo treatment (2:1 ratio; 200 mg/day). The primary outcome measures are the Scale for Assessment of Negative Symptoms (SANS) and assessments of executive functions.

Timeline

Start

2003-08

Primary completion

2007-03

Completion

2007-03

Publications

• Levkovitz Y, Mendlovich S, Riwkes S, Braw Y, Levkovitch-Verbin H, Gal G, Fennig S, Treves I, Kron S. A double-blind, randomized study of minocycline for the treatment of negative and cognitive symptoms in early-phase schizophrenia. J Clin Psychiatry. 2010 Feb;71(2):138-49. doi: 10.4088/JCP.08m04666yel. Epub 2009 Nov 3.

Drugs

Indications

No indication recorded.