The VMAT2 inhibitors: New hope for an old scourge

A scourge, to be sure, of our own making. I'm referring in the title of this commentary to tardive dyskinesia (TD), one of the most debilitating side effects of the first‐generation antipsychotics (FGAs). Although TD was first recognized as an adverse effect of these drugs in the 1950s, it was decades before our field fully embraced the implications. In no small part, this reflected our reluctance to find fault with a class of drugs that had revolutionized treatment for millions of people. The incidence of TD has declined significantly since the introduction of the second‐generation antipsychotics (SGAs) in the 1990s — not fortuitously, since reducing the risk of TD was a key driver in the development of the SGAs.

Source: The Brown University Psychopharmacology Update - October 25, 2017 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Lawrence H. Price Tags: Editor's Commentary Source Type: research