Long-term efficacy and safety comparison of sertindole and haloperidol in the treatment of schizophrenia

Sertindole is an atypical antipsychotic that is efficacious in schizophreni a and is associated infrequently with extrapyramidal symptoms(EPS), This st udy assessed time to treatment failure with 24 mg/day sertindole or 10 mg/d ay haloperidol in 282 clinically stable neuroleptic-responsive outpatients with schizophrenia. During a 5-week transition period, patients were random ized to treatment with sertindole or haloperidol; other treatments were gra dually discontinued. Patients then received treatment through Day 365. Time to treatment failure was numerically superior in sertindole-treated patien ts compared with haloperidol-treated patients, although this difference was not statistically significant, Sertindole-treated patients, however, remai ned free of hospitalization for exacerbation of schizophrenia and remained medically compliant significantly longer than did haloperidol-treated patie nts. In addition, there were significantly fewer reports of EPS in sertindo le-treated patients and sertindole therapy was generally well tolerated. Pa tients transitioned well from other antipsychotic agents to sertindole, Ser tindole appears to be an effective long-term treatment for schizophrenia.