Promising Advances in Schizophrenia Treatment

Review Article

Abstract

Schizophrenia is a severe mental illness affecting perception, cognition, and emotions. It is the most common functional psychotic condition and ranks in the top 10 worldwide disease burdens. The disease is caused by genetic predisposition, neurotransmitter imbalance, and risk factors like overweight, insufficient exercise, smoking, hyperglycemia, hypertension, and hyperlipidemia. Schizophrenia increases mortality risk by 12 times due to somatic disorders, heightened instances of suicide, and a poor lifestyle. Brain damage during pre-onset or early post-onset periods is associated with negative symptoms. The molecular pathology of schizophrenia is being increasingly understood, with a focus on changes to proteins and pathways. Diagnosis is made after a mix of symptoms for a minimum of one month. Despite its challenges, pharmacological treatment for schizophrenia is advancing, with promising new therapies targeting GABAergic signaling, inflammatory pathways, and epigenetic mechanisms. Novel drugs like cariprazine and brilaroxazine have shown efficacy in treating negative symptoms and clozapine-resistant schizophrenia. Other emerging treatments include asenapine transdermal system, lumateperone, paliperidone, olanzapine/samidorphan, pimavanserin, risperidone ISM, roluperidone, and TAAR-1 agonists. With a better understanding of the disease pathophysiology and development of targeted therapies, the outlook for schizophrenia management is improving