Lovastatin for the adjunctive treatment of schizophrenia: A preliminary randomized double-blind placebo-controlled trial

Abstract

While statins target many of the pathways to neuroprogression in schizophrenia, the safety and efficacy of statins for treating schizophrenia has never been examined. This is an 8-week randomized double blind controlled clinical trial examining the efficacy and safety of adjunctive lovastatin (20 mg/day) treatment or placebo for people with schizophrenia. The baseline characteristics of the two groups were not different. Endpoint changes in Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) total and subscale scores did not differ between the two groups. However there was a significant difference between the doses of risperidone used in the two groups. The mean dose in the lovastatin and placebo groups were 4.8(1.8) and 3.4(1.4) mg/day, respectively (P<.03). No serious adverse events were reported. Slowness of movements, muscle rigidity, increased appetite, and decreased energy were the most common adverse effects, and these rates did not differ between the two groups. This study failed to demonstrate a benefit of lovastatin on symptoms of schizophrenia. This combination was well tolerated. However, a higher dosage of risperidone was used for treating the disorder in those taking concomitant lovastatin compared to placebo.

Brown adipose tissue activity is modulated in olanzapine-treated young rats by simvastatin

“…Statins, 3-hydroxy-3-methylgutaryl-COA (HMG-CoA) reductase inhibitors, are considered a potential preventive and treatment approach for reducing SGA-induced weight gain and dyslipidemia in schizophrenia patients. Atorvastatin [19], lovastatin [20], rosuvastatin [21], or simvastatin [22] were reported to lower TC, LDL-C and TG among dyslipidemic psychiatric patients. Statins were found an obvious method for lowering cholesterol and reducing risk in children with familial hypercholesterolemia [23,24], although the effect of statins treatment in children and adolescents with SGA-induced dyslipidemia is not clearly demonstrated.…”

Putative neuroprotective pharmacotherapies to target the staged progression of mental illness

“…Simvastatin was shown to be more effective than atorvastatin at reducing depressive symptoms following coronary artery bypass grafting (GABG) surgery in a small cohort of patients (n = 46) (Abbasi et al, 2015). Neither pravastatin nor lovastatin add-on therapies were shown to lessen symptom severity in schizophrenia, though pravastatin-reduced peripheral inflammatory markers (Ghanizadeh, Rezaee, Dehbozorgi, Berk, & Akhondzadeh, 2014;Vincenzi et al, 2014).…”

Targeting the Immune System With Pharmacotherapy in Schizophrenia

“…Additionally, there was no effect on PANSS scores or neurocognitive measures at 12 weeks, though there was an initial decrease in PANSS positive scores at 6 weeks that was not maintained. In the second trial with 36 total participants, 20mg per day of adjunct lovastatin for 8.5 weeks did not lead to any significant improvement in PANSS measures compared to placebo [87]. There is a third trial currently underway which plans to determine the effects of adjunct treatment with 40mg/day simvastatin in 250 participants with schizophrenia for a period of 12 month [88].…”