Bitter Pill: Costs surge for new schizophrenia drugs
By Bruce Bower
Medications widely prescribed to treat schizophrenia cost hundreds of dollars more each month than does a less popular, older medication that has similar success at alleviating symptoms of the disorder.
That’s one conclusion of the latest analyses from a federally funded study. It tracked people with longstanding schizophrenia who were given 18 months of treatment with a traditional antipsychotic medication or one of four new drugs, known as atypical antipsychotics.