Minocycline for the Treatment of Early-Phase Schizophrenia
Status:
Completed
Trial end date:
2007-03-01
Target enrollment:
Participant gender:
Summary
Current antipsychotics have only a limited effect on two core symptoms of schizophrenia,
negative symptoms and cognitive deficits. Minocycline is a second-generation tetracycline
which has a beneficial effect in various neurological disorders. Recent findings in animal
models and human case-reports suggest its potential for the treatment of these symptoms of
schizophrenia. The current study aims to examine the efficacy of minocycline as add-on
treatment for alleviating negative and cognitive symptoms in early-phase schizophrenia. The
study will utilize a longitudinal double blind, randomized, placebo-controlled design with
patients followed for six-months. Early-phase schizophrenia patients were recruited and
randomly allocated to a minocycline or placebo treatment (2:1 ratio; 200 mg/day). The primary
outcome measures are the Scale for Assessment of Negative Symptoms (SANS) and assessments of
executive functions.