ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, October 2, 1996 TAG: 9610020054
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-5 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: WASHINGTON
The Food and Drug Administration approved a new drug for schizophrenia Tuesday that doctors say could help patients who don't respond to existing medicines.
Eli Lilly & Co.'s olanzapine, to be sold under the brand name Zyprexa, has not yet been adequately compared with existing medicines, so the FDA would not let the company advertise the drug as superior.
But psychiatrists have high hopes for olanzapine because it is chemically similar to an older medicine that often proved best at controlling schizophrenia. Many patients couldn't tolerate the side effects of that drug, clozapine, though, and so used less effective drugs.
Olanzapine appears to have the benefits of clozapine without the side effects, explained Dr. Alan Schatzberg, Stanford University's chairman of psychiatry.
- Associated Press
LENGTH: Short : 28 linesby CNB