Research & Drug Development

Schizophrenia is a chronic, severe and disabling brain disease, ranked among the top 10 causes of disability in developed countries. It is estimated that schizophrenia has a prevalence rate of approximately 1.1%. Although schizophrenia affects men and women with equal frequency, the disorder often appears earlier in men, usually in the late teens or early twenties, than in women, who are generally affected in the twenties to early thirties.

The symptoms of schizophrenia fall into three broad categories: positive symptoms ( hallucinations, delusions, thought disorder and disorders of movement), negative symptoms (avolition, poverty of speech, affective flattening, lack of spontaneity), cognitive symptoms (attention deficits, memory and executive functions impairment).

Moreover people with schizophrenia are likely to have additional (comorbid) conditions, including major depression and anxiety disorders and the lifetime occurrence of substance abuse is around 40%. Suicidality is also an important problem of the disease. Nearly one-third of those diagnosed with schizophrenia will attempt suicide and about 10% will commit suicide within 20 years of the beginning of the disorder.

Diagnosis is based on the patient-s self-reported experiences and observed behavior. No laboratory test for schizophrenia currently exists.

Despite research progress, etiology of the disease is still poorly understood. One possible cause of schizophrenia may be heredity, or genetics. In fact, the disorder tends to run in families, but only among blood relatives. In addition, factors such as, complications of pregnancy and delivery (intrauterine starvation or viral infections) as well as various nonspecific stressors, seem to influence the on set and development of schizophrenia.

Available treatments (typical and atypical antipsychotics) can relieve many symptoms. Atypical antipsychotics have shown an improvement of side-effects compared with older typical antipsychotics, however several major needs remain unmet by current medications. Amongst these, partial or incomplete response to treatment, negative symptoms, suicidality and cognitive impairment  remain highly important. Most people with schizophrenia continue to suffer some symptoms throughout their lives.