Artemisinin to Reduce The Symptoms of Schizophrenia

Completed · Not applicable · Has a placebo group

Conditions studied: Schizophrenia, Schizoaffective Disorder

In brief

The investigators intend to explore the hypothesis that symptoms of schizophrenia may be reduced by the antimalarial compound artemisinin when used in addition to standard antipsychotic medications.

Key facts

Study ID

NCT00753506

Run by

Sheppard Pratt Health System

People needed

66

Starts

2008-08-01

Expected to finish

2010-05-01

Last updated by the study team

2012-02-28

Who can join

Age: 18 and older, up to 65. Sex: any. Healthy volunteers: not accepted.

You may qualify if…

• Age 18-65 years old.
• Capacity for written informed consent.
• Primary Axis I diagnosis (DSM-IV) of schizophrenia, any type, OR schizoaffective disorder (APA, 1994).
• Currently an outpatient at the time of enrollment.
• Residual psychotic symptoms which are at least moderately severe as evidenced by one or more Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) positive symptom scores, and/or PANSS negative symptom scores of 4 or more; OR a total PANSS score of 50 or more, containing at least three positive or negative items with scores of 3 or more at screening.
• Conformance to Patient Outcome Research Team (PORT) Treatment Recommendation #5, Maintenance Antipsychotic Medication Dose (Lehman et al., 2004).
• Receiving antipsychotic medication for at least 8 weeks prior to starting the study with no medication changes within the previous 21 days.
• Participants must be proficient in English.

You may not qualify if…

• Diagnosis of mental retardation.
• History of IV drug use.
• Any serious medical condition that affects brain or cognitive functioning (e.g., epilepsy, serious head injury, brain tumor or other neurological disorder).
• HIV infection or other immunodeficiency condition.
• Primary diagnosis of substance abuse or dependence according to DSM-IV criteria within the last three months.
• Participated in any investigational drug trial in the past 30 days.
• Pregnancy or planning to become pregnant during the study period.
• Any clinically significant or unstable medical disorder as determined by the investigators that would preclude study participation, including congestive heart failure, abnormal liver function or disease, renal failure, and any diagnosis of cancer undergoing active treatment.

Where it is running

• Sheppard Pratt Health System — Towson, Maryland, United States

Full record on ClinicalTrials.gov

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