Key Messages
What Is the Issue?
- Antipsychotic medications are the mainstay of treatment and the most prescribed drugs for the treatment of schizophrenia. There are 2 classes of antipsychotics — first-generation antipsychotics (FGAs) and second-generation antipsychotics (SGAs). Quetiapine is an SGA drug. Decision-makers are interested in understanding the clinical efficacy, safety, and place in therapy of quetiapine compared to other medications for the treatment of schizophrenia in adults.
What Did We Do?
- We searched key resources, including journal citation databases, and conducted a focused internet search for relevant evidence published since 2020.
What Did We Find?
- The clinical evidence did not clearly indicate which antipsychotics, including quetiapine, are the better choice for the treatment of schizophrenia.
- Evidence-based guidelines recommend SGAs over FGAs for the management of first-episode psychosis and schizophrenia, as well as for maintenance treatment of schizophrenia. For the treatment of recurrent or relapsing schizophrenia, the guidelines provided diverging recommendations.
What Does This Mean?
- Prescribing antipsychotics for the treatment of schizophrenia should be based on patient characteristics, patient tolerability, patient values, side effect profiles of different antipsychotic medications, and clinician expertise.