Drug repurposing and emerging adjunctive treatments for schizophrenia.

“Schizophrenia is a frequent disorder, which substantially impairs patients’ quality of life. Moreover, the burden of illness for patients, their families and for the society, in general, is substantial.

Given the current failure of a number of mechanistically new drugs, repurposed compounds may serve as alternative and/or adjunctive agents for schizophrenic patients and for treatment refractory patients in particular. Anti-inflammatory drugs, as well as N-acetylcysteine, a precursor of the major antioxidant glutathione, hormones, glutamatergic and nicotinergic compounds, ‘nutraceuticals’ (e.g., ω-3 fatty acids) and cannabidiol, an endocannabinoid modulator, represent promising agents in this field.”

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25866122