if clozapine is so good, why haven’t other pharma companies further developed it. Like, its been round since the 70’s…is it not possible that someone could develop upon it further.
I’m no drug designer - but I think the issue is its just really hard to develop new drugs, especially for the brain. I wouldn’t classify any medication as a “wonder drug” - thats too simple. Clozapine has side effects like all the other medications.
What seems to have been happening in the medication development world is that they are developing a lot of different drugs that target similar brain receptors (dopamine, GABA, etc.) and each new drug comes with some sort of benefits, but also a unique set of side effects that impact people differently.
Fundamentally - its a game of hit or miss with medications - both for companies developing them, and the people taking them. But - there are many new medications in the pipeline - so there are many reasons for hope.
Here is a list of the new medications in development right now for schizophrenia:
Are closaril & clozapine the same?
Would seem so. Well clozaril is. I’m guessing it’s the same thing.