ROANOKE TIMES

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, March 3, 1991                   TAG: 9103030079
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: RICHMOND                                LENGTH: Medium


SCHIZOPHRENIA DRUG TREATMENT PLANNED AT FIVE STATE CENTERS

State mental health officials are planning to establish five centers to treat schizophrenia patients who likely would benefit from a new drug.

The drug, known as clozapine or clozaril, was recently made available in the United States.

Officials said distribution and monitoring centers would be set up at five mental health facilities. Those include Central State Hospital in Petersburg, Eastern State Hospital in Williamsburg, Western State Hospital in Staunton, Northern Virginia Mental Health Institute in Falls Church and Southwestern Virginia Mental Health Institute in Marion.

The department is still looking for a way to finance the regional centers, Forbes said.

There are nearly 1,400 diagnosed schizophrenics in state mental hospitals. Dr. Ronald O. Forbes, medical services director of the Department of Mental Health, Mental Retardation and Substance Abuse Services, said there may be as many as 2,400 in state hospitals and local hospitals.

Since it was allowed on the American market last year, clozapine has shown promise in treating severe schizophrenia. Virginia has participated in clinical trials of the drug.

But King E. Davis, commissioner of the agency, cautioned against viewing the drug as a "wonder drug" for all schizophrenics.

Clozapine's high cost - about $9,000 per year, per individual - is prohibitive for the public mental-health sector, Davis said. The drug is expensive because of strict monitoring provisions imposed by the manufacturer, Sandoz Pharmaceuticals Corp. of East Hanover, N.J.

Forbes said only a fraction of those suffering from schizophrenia would benefit from clozapine.

"Clozaril is still potentially dangerous" and cannot be used universally for all diagnosed schizophrenics, he said.

Last December, Virginia and 29 other states filed a class action lawsuit against Sandoz, charging that the company's monitoring provisions have made the drug unnecessarily expensive.



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