AstraZeneca confirms ‘potential of Seroquel for acute bipolar disorder’

AstraZeneca has released the findings of a new study which it says demonstrates the potential of its anti-psychotic, Seroquel, as a treatment for acute bipolar disorder.

It said that the improvements in patients with the disorder after taking the drug were “significantly greater” that those who took the placebo, something which continued through to the eight-week mark. The study, entitled Bolder II, is one of the largest placebo-controlled investigations of acute bipolar disorder, when including the Bolder I trial, according to AstraZeneca.

Michael E Thase, of the department of psychiatry of the University of Pittsburgh’s medical centre, said: “The replication of Bolder I by Bolder II adds considerable strength to the Bolder data.”

“In the past, doctors have typically treated bipolar disorder with both a mood stabiliser and an antidepressant. Having a single medication to treat both manic and depressive episodes of this condition would be a significant advance,” he added.

According to Bipolar Aware, a British website, one per cent of Britons have bipolar disorder and it most commonly appears in people in their early 20s. It is sometimes caused by a chemical imbalance in the mood regulation system. One type of bipolar disorder is known commonly as manic depression, where a person’s mood can become one of euphoria or irritability, while displaying a lack of deep insight into matters.

AstraZeneca says that Seroquel had sales of $2 billion (1.06 billion pounds) in 2004 and has been prescribed to 16 million people worldwide. It was first licensed in 1997 as a drug to treat schizophrenia.

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