Conditions: Schizophrenia
Keywords: Schizophrenia
Allocation: RANDOMIZED | Intervention model: PARALLEL
Enrollment: 131
Healthy volunteers: no

Brief summary:
The primary aims of this study are to assess tolerability of ziprasidone dose escalation to 320 milligrams per day (mg/d) compared to continued standard treatment (placebo) as measured by the Side Effect Checklist, Simpson Angus Scale for Extrapyramidal Symptoms (SAS), Barnes Akathisia Scale (BAS), serum prolactin concentrations, vital signs, electrocardiogram (EKG) and completion rates and to assess whether ziprasidone dose escalation improves overall psychopathology compared to continued standard treatment as measured by the change from baseline in the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) total score and response rates as defined by a 20% or greater reduction in PANSS total score.

The secondary aims of this study are to assess whether ziprasidone dose escalation improves psychotic symptoms compared to continued standard treatment as measured by the Positive Symptom Subscale of the PANSS, to assess whether ziprasidone dose escalation improves negative symptoms compared to standard treatment as measured by the Negative Symptom Subscale of the PANSS, to assess whether ziprasidone dose escalation improves depressive symptoms compared to continued standard treatment as measured by the Calgary Depression Rating Scale (CDRS), and to assess whether ziprasidone dose escalation improves overall functioning with the Clinical Global Impression - Severity (CGI-S), Clinical Global Impression - Improvement (CGI-I), Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF) and the Schizophrenia Cognition Rating Scale (SCoRS).

Detailed description:

Arms:
arm 1: Participants with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder who remain symptomatic despite treatment with ziprasidone 160 mg/d for at least 3 weeks will be instructed to take ziprasidone oral capsule twice daily added to their regular open-label ziprasidone dose (total of 240 mg/d). After the first week, the study drug will be increased to a total ziprasidone dose of 320 mg/d for 7 weeks. arm 2: Participants with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder who remain symptomatic despite treatment with ziprasidone 160 mg/d for at least 3 weeks will be instructed to take matching placebo oral capsule twice daily added to their regular open-label ziprasidone dose of 160 mg/d. After the first week, the matching placebo will be increased to two capsules twice daily and their regular open-label ziprasidone will remain the same (160 mg/d) for 7 weeks.

Interventions: intervention 1: Ziprasidone 80-160 mg/d intervention 2: Placebo intervention 3: Ziprasidone 160 mg/d
Intervention descriptions: intervention 1: Participants will be instructed to take one study capsule of ziprasidone orally twice daily (80 mg/d). After the first week, the study drug will be increased to two capsules twice daily (160 mg/d). intervention 2: Participants will be instructed to take one study capsule of matching placebo orally twice daily. After the first week, the matching placebo will be increased to two capsules twice daily. intervention 3: Participants will be taking open-label ziprasidone 80 mg orally twice daily for a total dose of 160 mg/d from at least 3 weeks before randomization to end of study 8 weeks after randomization.

Protocol document: