Minocycline for Schizophrenia

Summary

Schizophrenia is understood to be a heterogeneous brain condition with overlapping symptom dimensions. The negative symptom dimension, with its protean cognitive manifestations, responds poorly to treatment, which can be a particular challenge in countries where clozapine therapy is not available. Preliminary data indicates that minocycline may be beneficial adjunct in the treatment of schizophrenia: positive, negative, and cognitive symptoms. Persons with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder and recent onset schizophrenic episode or recent relapse who are prescribed minocycline in addition to standard antipsychotic medication will show greater symptom reduction, as measured by the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) total score.

Timeline

Start

2013-04

Primary completion

2016-05

Completion

2016-06

Publications

• Fekadu A, Mesfin M, Medhin G, Alem A, Teferra S, Gebre-Eyesus T, Seboxa T, Assefa A, Hussein J, Lemma MT, Borba C, Henderson DC, Hanlon C, Shibre T. Adjuvant therapy with minocycline for schizophrenia (The MINOS Trial): study protocol for a double-blind randomized placebo-controlled trial. Trials. 2013 Nov 27;14:406. doi: 10.1186/1745-6215-14-406.

Drugs

Indications