Newer schizophrenia drugs cause heart risks: study

By Gene Emery

BOSTON (Reuters) - Newer "atypical" drugs for schizophrenia and other mental problems, which are supposed to be safer, may in fact carry a greater risk of a fatal heart attack than older medicines, researchers said on Wednesday.

The drugs are among the best-selling in the world and some experts suggested that the common practice of using them for unapproved purposes such as dementia and childhood hyperactivity should be sharply curtailed.

Dr. Wayne Ray of the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine and colleagues studied nearly 277,000 people in Tennessee and found patients taking the highest dose had the greatest risk, and the danger faded once they stopped taking the drugs.

Ray said the findings do not necessarily mean people should stop taking their drugs. In some cases, there are no good alternative treatments.

"Any prescription is a balancing of risks and benefits. This is more information on the risks that needs to be taken into account," Ray said in a telephone interview.

"Many people thought the "atypicals" would be much, much safer. Our study suggests that they are not at all safer in regards to this serious end point," said Ray.

In June the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said older, conventional antipsychotic medications should carry a warning on the packaging about the risk of death.

The FDA issued a similar warning in 2005 for newer antipsychotic's such as Bristol-Myers Squibb Co's and Otsuka Pharmaceutical Group's Abilify and Eli Lilly and Co's Zyprexa, known generically as olanzapine.