Positive symptoms include visual and auditory hallucinations and delusions.
Schizophrenia is a chronic illness that requires lifelong treatment.
The 4,500 patient worldwide clinical trials program was the largest ever conducted for a novel antipsychotic medicine prior to launch. Significant weight gain, associated with many currently available antipsychotic medicines, is distressing and stigmatizing to patients and often results in non-compliance. Patients who gain weight may also be at greater risk for cardiovascular complications such as increased lipid levels and poor glycemic control. Management of schizophrenia is complicated by high rates of relapse. These side effects were generally of mild to moderate severity and rarely led to discontinuation of the drug.