Schizophrenia Daily News Blog

"Patch" System Coming to Schizophrenia Medications

A company called Dermatrends has announced this week that it will develop a prototype skin patch formulation of a widely used drug to treat schizophrenia and bipolar mania.

Dermatrends, Inc., a drug delivery company, said that it has entered into an agreement with Teikoku Pharma USA to develop a prototype patch formulation for the transdermal delivery of a widely used anti-psychotic pharmaceutical compound.

Under terms of the agreement, Dermatrends will be providing the drug delivery technology for transdermal delivery of an anti-psychotic drug that was selected by Teikoku. Dermatrends will utilize its standardized developmental process for effective transdermal delivery. While there are no assurances that Teikoku and Dermatrends will subsequently enter into a joint development or licensing agreement, Dermatrends CEO Ted Schwarzrock said he is optimistic about prospects for positive results from the development of this prototype.

Transdermal delivery of this drug represents a large untapped market, Schwarzrock said. “We believe that transdermal delivery could be a preferred method of delivery for many patients and their caregivers.”

Anti-psychotics are part of the broad category of drugs treating the central nervous system (CNS), drugs that constitute the second largest therapeutic category of ethical drugs and include anti-psychotic agents, anti-depressants, anti-schizophrenic agents, and other drugs. Retail sales in the U.S. of ethical anti-psychotic drugs were $10.47 billion for the 12 months ended in October 2006, according to a recent report by IMS Health.

Additional information is available on the company’s website at www.dermatrends.com.